Sinaloa cartel security chief extradited to US

Hibapress

The head of security for the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, Nestor Isidro Perez Salas, aka “El Nini”, was extradited to the United States on Saturday, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced in a press release.

Considered by US authorities as one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s most ruthless criminals, Perez Salas was arrested last November by the Mexican National Guard in Culiacan.

“We believe that El Nini was one of the principal assassins of the Sinaloa cartel, and was responsible for the murder, torture and kidnapping of rivals and witnesses who threatened the criminal drug trafficking enterprise. cartel drug,” US Justice Secretary Merrick Garland said in the statement.

According to the US State Department, Pérez Salas allegedly worked under Ivan Archivaldo Guzman to lead the “Ninis”, a violent group responsible for the security of the sons of Joaquin Guzman, aka “El Chapo”, who is imprisoned in life in the United States.

In April 2023, the US drug trafficking agency announced a reward of $3 million for information leading to his arrest.

Pérez Salas, responsible for protecting El Chapo’s sons, is also believed to have played an important role in the powerful cartel’s drug trafficking activities.

El Chapo’s sons lead a faction of the cartel known as the “Chapitos”, which notably operates in the trafficking of fentanyl to the US market.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic drug, is responsible for approximately 70,000 overdose deaths each year in the United States.