Man suspected of killing border agent in ‘Fast and Furious’ scandal arrested

The man suspected of killing U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in 2010 was arrested in Mexico Wednesday, according to a Wednesday Fox News report.

A joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force reportedly apprehended the man, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, at a ranch in northwestern Mexico on the border of Sinaloa and Chihuahua states. The task force included U.S. Marshals, Drug Enforcement Administration agents and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, Fox reports.

Authorities had placed a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Osorio-Arellanes. And now that he is in custody, U.S. authorities reportedly plan to seek his extradition.

Terry was killed in December 2010 by a U.S. government-issued gun during a gunfight between Border Patrol agents and a five-man cartel group commonly called the “rip crew,” who are known to rob drug dealers on the border. 

The incident exposed a federal government trap that allowed known criminals to purchase the U.S. weapons in Phoenix-based gun shops with the plan of tracking them until they reached Mexico, known as Operation Fast and Furious, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) program. But ATF lost track of more than 70 percent of the guns, more than 1,400 of the 2,000 guns they sold as part of the operation. 

Authorities found two of these guns at the scene where Terry died, sparking political outrage. 

Then-Attorney General Eric Holder refused to provide relevant documents for a congressional investigation and was held in contempt of Congress.

Four of the cartel members have already been charged and are serving long-term jail sentences, and one more is still believed to be at large.