An alleged Mexican 'drug lord' had risked running into authorities by making his way through the Rio de Janeiro airport to watch his national team to play against Brazil in its second match at the World Cup, the Independent reported. Last night, Jose Diaz Barajas failed to elude authorities at Tom Jobim airport as he, with his wife and two children in tow, were on their way to Fortaleza to watch the Mexico National Team play.
The country's federal police has confirmed that he has tickets for the game under his name. Moreover, authorities said that it has notified FIFA about the arrest.
According to reports, the 49 year-old Mexican native is wanted in both his homeland and the US over drug trafficking charges. The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) had provided assistance to Brazilian authorities in Barajas' arrest.
Police spokesman Luiz Cravo Dorea told reporters in Brasilia, "He was low-profile and used real documents to enter the country because he thought that nobody was looking for him. He will remain imprisoned in Rio until his extradition to the US is determined."
It is not clear whether of what had become of his wife and two kids, and of whether authorities have provided assistance to Barajas' family following the patriarch's arrest.
It was reported that Barajas and family had arrived in Brazil from Paraguay by land travel on June 11. Police were said to have been monitoring his movements, the Independent said. The warrant of arrest for Barajas was issued by Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio Mello.
If there's a silving lining to this otherwise dark cloud for Barajas, it would be his team's spectacular performance in the Tuesday match, most notably the performance of goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. The curly-haired player held off all of Brazil's attempts for a goal, including those coming from Neymar and Oscar. The Huffington Post said that while Brazil tallied 15 shots and 24 crosses, the 28 year-old Guadalajara who has yet to be on a club team, made sure not one shot passed his net.
