Body Of Drug Lord's Surgeon Discovered -- Doctor May Have Been Tortured In Retaliation For Death Of Mexico's `Lord Of The Skies'

MEXICO CITY - When Mexico's top drug lord died in his hospital bed after plastic surgery, many Mexicans wondered how long it would take before one of his doctors turned up dead.

The answer came yesterday: four months.

Forensic scientists and relatives identified a body found with signs of torture and abandoned by the side of a highway as that of Dr. Jaime Godoy Singh, who is believed to have participated in the July 3 operation on Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as the "Lord of the Skies" for his use of jetliners to ferry cocaine.

Police found the body and two others on Sunday just off the Mexico City-Acapulco highway.

Since Carrillo's death on July 4, police had been looking for the three doctors who mysteriously turned up at a Mexico City maternity clinic to perform the operation on Carrillo.

Godoy Singh's relatives had been looking, too. They filed a missing-person's report 19 days ago. Yesterday, his brother Roberto identified one of the bodies as that of his brother, recognizing a plastic jaw prosthesis and dental fixtures, said Dr. Miguel Angel Velez, head of the Guerrero state medical examiner's office.

Godoy Singh, 37, was an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist from Sinaloa, Carrillo's home state. His family didn't know where he lived in Mexico City but told police he hung out with entertainers and other rich people.

Police believe he was one of the doctors who performed the plastic surgery and liposuction that Carrillo apparently hoped would help him evade police.

The drug lord died hours after the surgery from a mix of anesthetics and a sleeping drug, Dormicum. It is still unclear who gave it to him.

At the time, Mexicans speculated on the fate of the doctors; many expected it wouldn't be pleasant.

Authorities shied away from blaming Carrillo's Juarez drug cartel for the torture and killing of the three men. But asked whether the deaths were related to drug trafficking, Guerrero state judicial police spokesman Gustavo Menije said, "Everything appears to indicate they were."

Mexico's former drug-enforcement chief, Francisco Molina, said allies of the dead drug lord may have been responsible.

"In these things, they don't risk leaving any witness alive," he said.

Since Carrillo's death, dozens of people connected to the Juarez cartel have been killed, either in turf battles or vendettas, authorities say.

Relatives said Godoy Singh had been with two friends - also doctors, known to them as Jorge and Ricardo - before he disappeared. It is not known whether they might have participated in the operation as well - or whether they might be the other bodies found.

Information from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.