‘El Chapo’: Mexico signals extradition to US

chapo

The Mexican attorney general’s office says it will begin the process of extraditing recaptured drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to the US. It said the move was in line with US extradition requests from 2014. On Friday Guzman was detained and sent back to the maximum-security prison he escaped from six months ago.

Guzman, who was one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, escaped from there in July through a tunnel dug in the showers. Previous requests from the US have been turned down, but correspondents say Mexican authorities may have decided it is no longer safe to hold him in the country, such is his ability to bribe and buy officials.

 No date has been given for an initial extradition hearing. The attorney general’s office said that lawyers for Guzman would have three days to file objections and 20 more days to prove them, though that timeframe could be extended, AFP news agency reports.(BBC)…[+]