Mexico City, Mexico — Two Mexican men wanted in the U.S. were captured at La Aurora International in Guatemala. The pair were arrested Sunday by waiting officials after they landed from a Mexico City flight.
Edwin Monroy, spokesman for the National Civil Police (PNC) of Guatemala reported that Mexicans Melecio Rodríguez and Mario Castro were captured by anti-narcotics agents at the air terminal upon their arrival from Mexico City.
They were taken into custody on an extradition request from the United States where they are accused of trafficking cocaine and other drugs, Guatemala authorities reported.
“They are charged with the crimes of illicit association to manufacture cocaine and distribute it in the United States,” Monroy said.
The Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office) of Guatemala said in a statement that the detainees are linked to “a drug trafficking organization based in the U.S. city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota from where they operated between 2019 and February of 2022.”
The Ministry added that “both detainees were responsible for trafficking large amounts of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine and fentanyl from Mexico to the United States for distribution and transporting drug proceeds from the United States to Mexico.”
These latest two arrests brings the country’s figures to 12, being the number of people detained in Guatemala on outstanding arrest warrants for extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges.
Figures from the United States indicate that 90 percent of the cocaine that arrives in that country passes through Mexico and Central America in small planes, boats and submarines, among other routes.
