Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) extradited Abel ‘N’, a Mexican convicted by an Oregon federal court for the crimes of criminal association and drug trafficking, to the United States last Friday.
Read more Iran accuses U.S. of discriminatory treatment in issuing visas for the Football World Cup
According to information provided by the FGR, the procedure was carried out at the Mexico City International Airport, where U.S. agents received the accused to transfer him to North American territory to carry out the reading of his sentence, almost four years after he absconded.
The extradition is part of a context of judicial cooperation between Mexico and the United States against crimes linked to drug trafficking and transnational networks, in which authorities from both countries resort to formal requests for surrender when a wanted person is outside the territory where they are being prosecuted.
The case originated in the Federal District Court for the District of Oregon. According to the background information provided by Mexican authorities, Abel “N” had already appeared before that court and, in July 2022, pleaded guilty to the charges against him.
After that hearing, he was released pending a later date when he was to appear to hear his sentence. However, the man did not attend the hearing set by U.S. justice, which activated the procedure to locate and subsequently surrender him.
Read more DR Congo raises confirmed Ebola cases to 452 and warns of rapid spread
At the request of the United States government, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office processed an arrest warrant for extradition purposes before a federal judge in Mexico City. The request was granted by the District Court Specialized in the Accusatory Criminal System of the Federal Criminal Justice Center, based in the Reclusorio Oriente.
The arrest of Abel “N” took place last February in Tijuana, Baja California, a border city with the United States. From that moment, the case progressed through the formal stages of the extradition process until the Mexican government authorized his surrender.
The FGR did not specify the penalty the Mexican could face in the United States. Nor did it provide background information on possible links to any criminal organization.
