Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman extradited to US

Mexico's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman in his prison mug shot.

The Mexican government announced today that it has extradited notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States.

The Mexican Foreign Ministry made the announcement without immediately providing further details.

Guzman, who was recaptured a year ago after having escaped from a Mexican prison in July 2015, is wanted in the United States for trafficking heroin, cocaine and other drugs across the border, among other crimes. He has been indicted in at least seven US federal courts.

Guzman has been transferred to US custody, the Associated Press reported.

"The government today handed Mr. Guzman Loera to the US authorities," the Foreign Ministry said. The transfer came after a Mexican court rejected Guzman's last bid to avoid extradition.

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is made to face the press as he is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican soldiers and marines. Photo / AP

Guzman, who has twice escaped from Mexican prisons, was turned over to officers of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, AP reported. He was then put on a plane bound for New York, one of the jurisdictions where he faces federal charges, AP said.

Guzman was transferred to a prison near Ciudad Juarez in May last year in preparation for his eventual extradition.

The transfer came on the last full day of President Barack Obama's term, but there was no immediate indication that the timing was related to tomorrow's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, has been extradited to the United States to face multiple court trials after twice escaping from maximum-security prisons in his country.

Guzman arrived in the US city of New York late Thursday, said a federal law enforcement official.

The boss of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel is to stand trial in a federal courthouse in Brooklyn on Friday.

He is accused of running a massive drug operation that employed thousands of people, laundered billions of dollars in profits back to Mexico and used hitmen to carry out murders, kidnappings and acts of torture.

After his trial in New York, Guzman faces more criminal charges in five other US cities, including San Diego, Chicago and Miami.

If convicted, the kingpin could face life in prison in the US.

In Mexico, Guzman, who is around 60, had managed to escape from prison twice.

This file photo taken on January 08, 2016 shows drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman 

His first prison break was in 2001, when he got out of the jail in the western Jalisco state by hiding in a laundry cart.

Guzman’s second escape took place in the summer of 2015.

He fled from his cell at the Altiplano jail, which is Mexico's highest-security facility, despite reportedly wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet, with surveillance cameras recording his jail cell 24 hours a day.

In fall 2015, Guzman participated in an interview in a secret location with actors Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo.

In that interview, according to Penn, Guzman justified his heinous criminal activities throughout his life by saying he joined the criminal community as a teenager simply as a means to escape poverty.

"The only way to have money to buy food, to survive, is to grow poppy, marijuana, and at that age, I began to grow it, to cultivate it and to sell it," Penn quoted Guzman as saying.

Some analysts believe the West is running the international drug trade.