The opulent home of a man accused of being a Mexican drug lord who was arrested in Tucson earlier this month was gutted by an arson fire, officials in Naco, Sonora, said.
The Naco house belonging to Carlos "Calichi" Molinares Nunez was set ablaze by an arsonist who doused the interior with gasoline around 5:30 a.m. Monday, Fire Chief Jose Gutierrez said. Moments later, a second, three-story building within the Molinares compound was ignited by a Molotov cocktail, possibly thrown from the street outside.
Fire officials said Sonora state police are investigating.
Gutierrez said security at the home was so tight firefighters had to battle the flames from the street outside until a Mexican army Humvee broke down a gate.
"We don't know if it was for robbery or just to cause damage," Gutierrez said. "But it was intentional."
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The U.S. Attorney's Office announced last week that Molinares was arrested Dec. 9. He was indicted on two charges — continuing a criminal enterprise and conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute — and is facing a 20-year minimum sentence.
Molinares is accused of overseeing an operation that smuggled thousands of pounds of marijuana into Arizona for distribution throughout the United States. Officials believe he used his well-guarded home, which occupies half a city block in an otherwise run-down neighborhood, as a command center.
Gutierrez said it appeared no one was home at the time of the fire. No serious injuries were reported among the 18 firefighters from Naco, Mexico; Naco, Ariz.; and the San Jose Fire Department in Bisbee.
Family members were allowed into the home to remove personal items at midmorning. Fire officials gave reporters a tour Monday afternoon.
The inside of the home appeared gutted, with charred timbers still smoking and some spewing small flames. In what appeared to be a recreation room, a massive flat-screen television set had melted and buckled from the heat, while a wood-paneled bar stood blackened and smoldering.
A federal grand jury in Tucson last month also indicted Luis Alfonso Carillo-Landavazo and Luis Carlos Quijada-Soto.
Carillo-Landavazo was an upper-level manager in charge of the distribution of marijuana from Mexico to Tucson and Phoenix, court records say.
Quijada-Soto was accused of being responsible for obtaining the vehicles used by the ring and securing drug stash houses in Tucson.
