The United States has requested that Mexico extradite Ovidio Guzman — the son of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman — to face trial in a US court, a Mexican government spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

He has been charged in the US with conspiracy to traffic cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the country.

The younger Guzman also allegedly ordered the murders of informants, a drug trafficker and a singer who refused to perform at his wedding.

Father and son arrested

The 32-year-old cartel lieutenant was arrested by Mexican authorities in January after an intense shootout in Culiacan, in the state of Sinaloa, where the cartel is based.

He had previously been arrested in 2019, but was quickly released when his cartel launched an all-out war in retaliation.

Guzman's father, "El Chapo," is already serving a life sentence after he was extradited to the US in 2017.

He was convicted of trafficking hundreds of tons of drugs into the country over a 25-year period.

zc/jsi (AFP, Reuters)