Mexico extradites “La Barbie” and 12 others to U.S.

Mexico Wednesday extradited 13 people wanted by the U.S. for various offences, including Edgar Valdez, also known as La Barbie, for drugtrafficking, and Luis Humberto Hernandez, linked to the killing of U.S. Consulate employees in 2010.

Tomas Zeron, the attorney general’s criminal investigations chief, said the extraditions were made following requests from different U.S. federal courts “in the spirit of collaboration in the fight against organized crime” between both countries.

Among those extradited is La Barbie, a key figure of the Beltrán Leyva cartel and arrested in 2010 on organized crime and murder charges, among others.

He was indicted by a federal court in the Eastern District of Louisiana on drugtrafficking and money laundering charges.

Hernandez was arrested on May 2010 and is wanted in a federal court of the Western District of Texas.

He is linked to the murders of consulate employees in the border town of Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua in 2010.

Gulf Cartel leader Jorge Costilla Sanchez alias El Coss, who was arrested in Dec. 2012, has also been handed over, Zeron said.

“He is accused by a district court of the Southern District of Texas of smuggling and distribution of cocaine and marijuana in various parts of the U.S., as well as of money laundering, and is among the FBI’s most wanted.”

Also part of the extradited group is Jose Emanuel Garcia Sota, who was charged in a federal court of the District of Columbia in the 2011 killing of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and the attempted murder of another agent.

Jean Baptiste Kingery, arrested in September 2012 and wanted in a federal court of the District of Arizona for trafficking arms from the U.S. to Mexico, has also been extradited.

Another among the extradited, Julio Cesar Valenzuela Elizalde, was charged in the same court with conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine.

On Wednesday morning, media reported an intense military mobilization near the Altiplano prison in Mexico from where Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped on July 11.

The media, citing unofficial versions, said federal authorities were preparing to transfer several dangerous prisoners to other prisons and extradite some others.