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Mexico has extradited a senior figure in the Sinaloa drug cartel to the United States.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors allege N\u00e9stor Isidro P\u00e9rez Salas – known as El Nini, or the Slacker – was a “lead assassin” working for the sons of drug kingpin Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n<\/a>, better known as El Chapo.<\/p>\n He is wanted in the US on drug trafficking and weapons charges, which he denies.<\/p>\n US officials had offered a $3m (\u00a32.4m) reward for information leading to his capture.<\/p>\n US Attorney General Merrick Garland alleges El Nini was part of the Sinola cartel\u2019s production and sale of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid<\/a>, in the United States.<\/p>\n Speaking after the extradition on Saturday, Mr Garland alleged El Nini was one of the cartel’s sicarios<\/i>, or contract killers. <\/p>\n El Nini “was responsible for the murder, torture and kidnapping of rivals and witnesses who threatened the cartel’s criminal drug trafficking enterprise,” Mr Garland said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n US prosecutors alleged El Nini was tasked with kidnapping, torturing and killing rival drug traffickers. He was detained in the organisation\u2019s stronghold of Culiac\u00e1n<\/a>, the capital of the state of Sinaloa, which gives its name to the cartel.<\/p>\n The arrest is part of an effort by US and Mexican authorities to stem the flow of fentanyl across the Mexico-US border. The drug contributes to the deaths of tens of thousands in the US every year.<\/p>\n Perez is one of the highest-profile extraditions to have taken place under Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador, who has pledged to “achieve peace and end the [drug] war”<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, three of El Chapo’s sons – Ovidio Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez<\/a> and his half-brothers Iv\u00e1n Archivaldo and Jes\u00fas Alfredo Guzm\u00e1n Salazar – were leaders of a trafficking empire responsible for smuggling millions of doses of fentanyl to the US. <\/p>\n Mr L\u00f3pez, whose nickname is the Mouse, was extradited to the US in September on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, to which he pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n Two of the other brothers remain at large.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n