Honduras extradited an alleged drug trafficker accused of working for a Mexican drug cartel to the U.S. on Thursday, Reuters reported.
A statement issued by the U.S. State Department on Friday said Carlos Arnoldo Lobo, a 40-year-old Honduran citizen who worked with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, was taken into custody by U.S. investigators.
He was indicted on U.S. drug trafficking charges in the Southern District of Florida and was arrested by Honduran authorities on March 27. In April, his extradition was approved and the Supreme Court upheld the decision last week, according to The Associated Press.
Lobo and a second defendant, Juving Alexander Suazo Peraltais, is charged with shipping cocaine by sea, according to court documents in a Florida court.
Lobo's defense attorney, Louis Casuso, could not be reached for comment by The Miami Herald.
Officials claim Lobo transported several tons of cocaine from Colombia for drug gangs in Mexico and Central America.
He is the first alleged criminal to be extradited following a law enacted two years ago in Honduras that allowed for such transfers, Reuters said.
"Lobo's extradition is an important affirmation of the rule of law in Honduras and a strong signal that President Juan Orlando Hernandez is fully committed to stopping the use of Honduran territory for illicit activity," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Following a 13-year hunt, authorities captured Sinaloa kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, 56, in the resort town of Mazatlan in February. He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 after successfully bribing guards, who carried him out in a laundry basket.
Federal judges in Mexico ruled that Guzman must face two separate trials for his charges related to drug trafficking and organized crime. Though indictments from the U.S. have been filed against him, Mexico officials said they do not plan on extraditing him anytime soon.
