The US has extradited Ovidio Guzman, a wanted man on fentanyl trafficking charges and the son of imprisoned Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, authorities said on Friday.
Ovidio's extradition was announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who described it as the most recent step in US efforts to combat "every aspect" of the drug trafficking operations managed by the Sinaloa cartel linked to the Guzman family.
“I am also grateful to our Mexican government counterparts for this extradition,” Garland said in a statement. “The justice department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country.”
One of his father's trafficking empire's successors, Guzman, was briefly detained in the northern city of Culiacan in 2019 but was later freed on the president's orders to prevent violence when his cartel retaliated.
After an intense shootout in the state of Sinaloa in northern Mexico, he was apprehended in January.
The extradition of Guzman was also verified by two Mexican officials with knowledge of the matter.
Guzman was reportedly escorted out of a maximum security prison in central Mexico and flown across the border, according to Mexican media, including television network Milenio.
In order to have Guzman face drug-related charges in a US court, the US authorities requested his extradition in February.
In the fentanyl trade, Guzman and his brothers reportedly oversaw large-scale international operations, making hundreds of millions of dollars by "flooding" the US with the lethal narcotic.
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