Mexican Police Capture the 'queen' of Drug Trafficking

Mexican police have captured the country's highest profile female drug trafficker - the notoriously nicknamed Queen of the Pacific - along with her Colombian drug boss boyfriend, aka The Tiger.

Sandra Avila Beltran was arrested on Friday driving her BMW sports utility vehicle in a wealthy part of Mexico City. Juan Diego Espinosa was picked up in the same area a few hours later.

The couple are allegedly important figures in the organisation of shipments of Colombian cocaine to Mexico heading for the US. Both are also wanted on drugs charges in the United States.

Beltran is said to be close to Ismael 'el Mayo' Zambada, one of the top drug barons within the Sinaloa trafficking organisation that is headed by the legendary Joaquin 'el Chapo' Guzman. Her regal nickname comes from her reputed role in developing smuggling roots up the Pacific coast.

Espinosa, 39, is allegedly an important figure within the Colombian Norte del Valle cartel. That group's leader, Diego Montoya, was arrested three weeks ago in an operation hailed as the biggest blow to Colombian drug traffickers since the fall of the infamous Pablo Escobar in 1993.

Mexican authorities said the investigations that finally led them to Beltran began five years ago after the seizure of nine tons of Colombian cocaine in a tuna fishing boat off the Pacific port and resort of Manzanillo. 'This woman has been transporting Colombian cocaine into Mexico since the Nineties. She is part of a family that has been dedicated to drug trafficking for three generations,' public safety under-secretary Patricio Patiño said.

A video released to the local media by the police show the alleged Queen of the Pacific claiming to be a housewife who earns extra money selling clothes and renting houses. Beltran speaks with hesitation throughout, until asked why she is in police custody. 'Because of an arrest warrant with a view to my extradition,' she replies quickly with a smile.