NEW YORK AP – As a captured New Jersey inmate was being returned from Mexico on Thursday, the Rev. Al Sharpton defended his attempts to get the escapee to surrender and said criticism of him was due to a law enforcement “turf war.”

Otis Blunt, awaiting trial for robbery and weapons offenses, was arrested by Mexican Federal Police without incident Wednesday at a “$10-a-night hotel” in Mexico City, New Jersey authorities said.