MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said on Friday that 19 suspected gang members and 10 military personnel were killed in a recent wave of violence surrounding the capture of Mexican drug cartel boss Ovidio Guzman in Sinaloa.
The said that the security forces arrested Guzman, son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, on Thursday morning, prompting hours of unrest and shootouts with members of the gang.
Mexico’s President
Sandoval said that Guzman was extracted by helicopter from the home where he was arrested and flown to Mexico City, before being taken to a high-security federal jail.
The minister said that 21 other people were also arrested during Thursday’s operations, saying there were no reports of any civilian casualties.
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said there are no immediate plans to extradite Guzman to the US, where his father is in a maximum security prison following being extradited in 2017 and found guilty in a New York court. The president said that no U.S forces had supported them in Ovidio’s arrest.
Washington has sought Ovidio Guzman’s extradition for years. The State Department had also announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest in 2021.
