U.S. sought extradition of 'El Chapo,' Mexican official acknowledges

After consistent denials, the Mexican government acknowledged Friday that it had received a formal request from the United States for the extradition of notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Mexican Atty. Gen. Arely Gomez said her office received the request June 25, 16 days before Guzman made a brazen escape from Mexico's premier maximum-security Altiplano prison through a mile-long tunnel. In the petition, the U.S. asks for Guzman's extradition based on an indictment in Federal District Court for Southern California, in San Diego. Gomez said her office was analyzing the request when Guzman escaped on July 11. She made the revelation Thursday night during a closed-door session of Congress and her office later confirmed the information. Alana Robinson, chief of the criminal division of the San Diego office, has said extradition requests were based on a 1996 indictment of Guzman and 22 others for importation into the U.S. of “huge quantities” of cocaine through tunnels as well as jets, railways and cars. Robinson, in an interview this week with KPBS radio in San Diego, said the U.S. had been going through diplomatic channels since last year. “We were very hopeful that Chapo Guzman would come and [face] the charges here in San Diego so of course [his escape] is disappointing,” she said...more