MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Mexico has started to actively consider extraditing Joaquin Guzman, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, to the United States to face charges there at Washington’s request, media reported Saturday, citing an unnamed Mexican official.
On Friday, Guzman, who had escaped from Altiplano through an underground tunnel in July 2015, was delivered to Mexico’s capital after his capture in the north of Sinaloa State.
The official said that the process could take months as it goes through the judicial system, The New York Times reported. Guzman’s lawyers are expected to fight the extradition, according to the media.
El Chapo’s Sinaloa drug cartel smuggles cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the United States. The cartel is also involved in the production and distribution of Mexican marijuana, heroin and other drugs in North America and Europe.
Just weeks before Guzman’s escape from prison, the United States issued a formal request for his extradition, which was denied by the Mexican government.
