Mexico City, Mexico — A suspect wanted for aggravated kidnapping in Mexico has been extradited from El Salvador. He was handed over to the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) to face charges in the state of Nuevo León for kidnapping while trafficking people into the United States.
Agüedo Juan Cortés Melgar was known involved in human trafficking from Central America to the United States and has been wanted in Mexico since 2018. However, he was serving a sentence in his native country. He was wanted by Mexican authorities after handing over two Salvadoran victims to a criminal group in Mexico who extorted their families.
The FGR said they received an extradition from the Republic of El Salvador of a person wanted by a judge in Nuevo León. Agüedo Juan Cortés Melgar was handed over to Mexican authorities at El Salvador International Airport to face charges for the crime of aggravated kidnapping.
“The extradition was authorized by the Supreme Court of Justice, since the accused is wanted by a Specialized Court of the Accusatory Criminal System of the state of Nuevo León, for the aforementioned crime,” the FGR reported.
“The events occurred in August 2018, when the defendant, who was involved in human trafficking from Central America to the United States, handed over two Salvadoran victims to a criminal group in Mexico.
“The victims were held captive in the cities of Chiapas and Puebla while their families were extorted for large sums of money in exchange for their release. Subsequently, the victims were rescued and the accused was fully identified.”
Aguedo “C” allegedly trafficked people to different parts of the country, such as Mexico City, Querétaro, and Nuevo León, with the purpose of depriving them of their freedom until their families paid their ransom.
Therefore, the Government of the Republic of El Salvador granted the extradition of the accused to the Mexican Government, and the fugitive was handed over at the International Airport of that country, in order to make him available to Mexican judicial authorities.
The extradition process was initiated after the individual was notified on October 31, 2022, of an active Interpol Red Notice. At the time the extradition was authorized, the accused was serving a sentence in El Salvador for human trafficking, imposed by the Ninth Court of Peace of San Salvador, a sentence which has since been completed.
