Court again orders release of Mexico drug lord's son

A Mexican court on Wednesday ordered the release of the son of a top drug lord who had already been arrested last year and released later over a lack of evidence.

The attorney general's office said it would appeal the ruling in order to keep Ruben Oseguera, alias "El Menchito," in jail over allegations that he is the second-in-command of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.

The 25-year-old suspect's release would be an embarrassment for the authorities, which captured Oseguera once before in January 2014 but were ordered to let him go a year later.

The US-born son of cartel boss Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera was detained again on June 23 as he rode in a car with his brother-in-law in a suburb of Guadalajara, Jalisco's capital.

Authorities said they were carrying four assault rifles, including an AR-15 with "Menchito" (Little Mencho) engraved on one side and on the other the cartel's initials CJNG, the number "02" and the abbreviation "Jr."
But a federal court in the central State of Mexico ordered the younger Oseguera's release, saying the authorities failed to prove his links to the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.

An official in the attorney general's office said the appeal will be based on the fact that Oseguera was detained in possession of high-caliber weapons and grenades.

The powerful New Generation cartel, which has links to gangs as far away as Asia, has emerged as a new challenge to President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration.

The group has taken the authorities head on, killing some 30 police officers and soldiers since March, downing a military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade on May 1.

Federal police killed 42 suspected cartel members on a ranch in the neighboring state of Michoacan on May 22.