Whoops: Mexico Admits Suspect Isn't Kingpin's Son

Police arrest wrong man, a car salesman
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 23, 2012 7:08 AM CDT
Whoops: Mexico Admits Suspect Isn't Kingpin's Son
A man presented by authorities as Alfredo Guzman Salazar is shown to the media in Mexico City Thursday. Turns out, it wasn't him after all.   (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Mexican authorities celebrated a huge arrest on Thursday, the son of Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin Guzman. But it turns out that the man they paraded before the cameras wasn't Guzman's son after all; instead, it was a used-car salesman named Felix Beltran Leon, reports the BBC. Now Mexico is blaming the US for the bad information, and the US is blaming Mexico, notes AP.

As for the 23-year-old car salesman, he remains in custody because authorities say they found guns and cash when they raided his house. His lawyer, though, says that cops planted the guns and that the cash can be explained by the recent sale of a house. "He's never been arrested," insists his mother. "This is a real injustice." (More Joaquin Guzman stories.)

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