Mexico has extradited to the US two high-ranking alleged drug lords, the attorney general’s office said on Wednesday, the two most prominent to be handed over since the escape of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in July.
The two men, Edgar “La Barbie” Valdez and Gulf Cartel capo Jorge Costilla, were among 13 defendants transferred to US authorities. They were sent by plane and are wanted for various violent crimes and drug trafficking-related offenses.
Valdez, a US-born former leader of the Beltran Leyva cartel, according to Mexican and US authorities, was arrested in August 2010, during then-Mexican president Felipe Calderon’s battle with Mexico’s powerful drug gangs.
Photo: AFP
Costilla, known as “El Coss,” a long-standing leader of Mexico’s Gulf cartel, was captured by the Mexican Navy in September 2012, shortly before Calderon left office.
Following Guzman’s jailbreak, the Mexican government revealed it had received an extradition request from the US for the Sinaloa boss, who was the most-wanted drug lord in the world before his capture in February last year.
Guzman’s escape through a 1.6km-long tunnel that surfaced in his prison cell was a major embarrassment for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, especially as he had also broken out of jail in 2001.
Critics said Pena Nieto should have handed over Guzman given Mexico’s past record with him. The government had resisted doing so, citing national sovereignty, but since his jailbreak has appeared to change its stance on extradition.
Nicknamed “La Barbie” for his fair complexion, Valdez became one of the most powerful figures in the Beltran Leyva cartel after Mexican soldiers killed former boss Arturo Beltran Leyva in December 2009, authorities said, triggering a power struggle within the gang.
Once close to Guzman, Valdez grew up selling marijuana in the US and developed a taste for luxury cars, nightclubs and designer clothes.
The US Department of Justice praised Mexico for its efforts.
“I am grateful to our Mexican counterparts not only for their assistance with this important matter, but also for their extraordinary efforts and unwavering partnership in our ongoing fight against international organized crime,” US Attorney General Loretta Lynch was quoted as saying in the statement.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS