(CN) – Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera has been extradited to the United States, where he will face six separate indictments for his leadership role in the Sinaloa cartel, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
For years, Guzman has evaded authorities looking to arrest him as the suspected leader of an expansive drug trade tied to a trail of violence throughout Mexico. He escaped prison twice, most recently tunneling out of a high-security prison in Mexico City in July 2015.
After six months on the run, Guzman was recaptured a little more than one year ago, at a pre-dawn raid in the coastal city of Los Mochis in Sinaloa state. A Mexican judge approved his extradition months later in May.
Guzman faces six separate indictments throughout the United States, including in the Brooklyn-based Eastern District of New York.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch, formerly the U.S. Attorney for that district, described Guzman's arrest at the time as "a blow to the international drug-trafficking syndicate he is alleged to have led, a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States, and a vindication of the rule of law in our countries."
Authorities have not yet confirmed where Guzman has been sent, or the court where he will be presented.
Anonymous sources have told CNN and ABC News that Guzman had been headed to New York.
The Justice Department says that more information will be “forthcoming.”
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