10 April 2006
Mexico Extradites to U.S. Alleged Drug Trafficker
Mexican faces 25-count indictment for cocaine, methamphetamine trafficking
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Mexico has extradited to the United States a Mexican national for his alleged role in a methamphetamine/cocaine trafficking organization operating from Mexico through California and Oregon to cities throughout the United States, announced the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
In an April 7 statement, the DEA said the Mexican national, Santiago Goicochea-Diaz, was extradited two days earlier from Mexico to Portland, Oregon, to answer a 25-count indictment alleging his role in the drug ring.
The DEA said that in January 2000, a U.S. federal grand jury indictment was returned in Portland alleging that Goicochea-Diaz and five other defendants engaged in criminal activity related to their involvement in trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine from Mexico into the United States.
The indictment also alleges that between l994 and l998 Goicochea-Diaz and others conspired to possess and distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and then launder their illicit profits. The DEA said Goicochea-Diaz is believed to have employed and directed individuals to move drugs from Mexico into and throughout the United States. It is also believed that Goicochea-Diaz solicited these same individuals to move money obtained from the sale of these illegal drugs back to California and into Mexico, said the DEA.
If convicted of the charges, Goicochea-Diaz would face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of l0 years in prison.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Rodney Benson said the extradition of Goicochea-Diaz to the United States from Mexico "shows that drug traffickers cannot flee justice. Drug traffickers should take note that international borders will not provide them protection from U.S. law and that they will be held accountable for their illegal actions."
The U.S. State Department's 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released March 1, said Mexico continued to be the principal transit country for cocaine entering the United States, with 70 to 90 percent of the cocaine destined for the United States passing through the Mexican mainland or the country's periphery. (See related article.)
Mexico also continues to be the largest foreign source of methamphetamine distributed in the United States, the report said. While there are no reliable estimates, the annual increase in methamphetamine seizures along the U.S. southwest border since 2001, according to the report, suggest that Mexican trafficking organizations have "significantly increased" methamphetamine production in Mexico for distribution into the United States.
The report added that Mexican authorities extradited a record 41 fugitives to the United States in 2005 -- up from 34 in 2004. The fugitives included Mexican citizens and defendants accused of narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and other serious crimes.
The section of the report pertaining to Mexico is available on the State Department Web site.
For information on U.S. policy, see Mexico.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
