‘El Chapo’ extradited to the US
Captured Mexican drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was extradited to the United States on Thursday, after several futile attempts by his lawyers to stop the extradition move.
In January 2016, Guzman was finally caught in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa. Six months earlier, he had humiliated Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto by escaping from prison through a mile-long tunnel dug straight into his cell.
It was the second time in his career the 59-year-old capo had escaped a federal Mexican jail and he spent the following months awaiting extradition to the United States.
Just days after his capture, “Chapo’s” larger-than-life reputation was sealed when U.S. movie star Sean Penn published a lengthy account of an interview he conducted with the drug lord – a meeting the Mexican government said was “essential” to his eventual capture a few months later.
“I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats,” Penn said Guzman told him during their discussion at the drug lord’s mountain hideout.
On Thursday, Mexico´s government finally extradited Chapo, on the eve of Donald Trump´s inauguration as U.S. president, from a prison in Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border.
Forbes put the kingpin’s wealth at $1 billion, though investigators say it is impossible to know exactly how much he was worth. Mexican prosecutors say Guzman used his money to buy off politicians, police chiefs, soldiers and judges. (NAN)
