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US asks Mexico to hand over reputed cartel boss

The US has formally filed a request for the extradition of a reputed drug cartel leader called the "Queen of the Pacific," a US official and the Mexican government said on Friday.

In a news statement, Mexico's attorney general's office said the US wants Sandra Avila Beltran on drug and organized crime charges, but did not say whether she would be sent before facing charges pending against her in Mexico.

A US official alleged that Avila Beltran, who was arrested in late September in an upscale Mexico City neighborhood, had arranged cocaine shipments for the Sinaloa cartel, handled millions of dollars in payments and even commanded a team of enforcers to punish gang members and rivals.

"She was making decisions, serious decisions, setting up shipments, approving payoffs for the shipments, transfers of millions of dollars to Colombian suppliers," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"People were brought in talk to her about lost loads and debts owed," the official said. "She had enforcers ... She kept a gaggle of enforcers."

The extradition request is related to the seizure of more than 9 tonnes of cocaine aboard a fishing vessel in 2001 near the Mexican Pacific coast port of Manzanillo.

A "temporary extradition" arrangement with the US allows suspects convicted in Mexico to be sent north for trial before serving their sentences here, but it was unclear whether that agreement would be applied in Avila Beltran's case.

Avila Beltran's uncle is also a legendary cartel leader.

Her Colombian boyfriend, reputed drug lord Juan Diego Espinoza Ramirez, was also arrested and is wanted on a US extradition request.
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