Joke lands young Mexican on most-wanted list

Jan 20, 2011, 21:10 GMT

Mexico City - The Mexican Attorney General's Office was investigating Thursday whether a photo on its most wanted drug lords website actually depicted a young man unrelated to the drug trade.

Friends of the young man, who looks remarkably like Tijuana Cartel boss Fernando Sanchez Arellano, reportedly uploaded onto the internet a photo of him with the drug lord's name.

The photo was eventually taken off the government website late Thursday. Earlier, spokesman Ricardo Najera said the case was being reviewed.

'If there is a mistake, you can be sure that we will correct it immediately,' he said.

The photo of the alleged drug boss and his partner was printed Tuesday on the front page of the daily Reforma, and then on other media.

Reports highlighted the fact that the authorities had changed an old photo of Sanchez Arellano for more up-to-date pictures found on the website YouTube.

However, the daily El Vigia of the northwestern Mexican state of Baja California, said the photo actually showed a young man who lives in Ensenada and had been the victim of a prank by friends in 2009.

Najera admitted that one person had already notified the authorities that he had been mistakenly put on the list, with documents to prove his identity.

'We are going to review the documents,' he said.

Mexican authorities were offering a reward of 2.4 million dollars for information leading to the arrest of Sanchez Arellano, who is active in Baja California and has been charged with organized crime, drug trafficking and violations of the federal legislation on firearms.

Read more about Curiosity

Read more about Mexico Crime