Ovidio Guzman was extradited from Mexico on Friday and faces multiple charges for allegedly trafficking drugs, including fentanyl.
Ovidio Guzman, one of the sons of jailed Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, better known as El Chapo, has pleaded not guilty in a US court to several charges including drug trafficking and money laundering.
Guzman, one of El Chapo’s four sons, appeared in court in Chicago on Monday, days after his extradition from Mexico.
During a brief hearing under tight security, Guzman, wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackled at the ankles, listened to the proceedings through a Spanish interpreter, according to the Chicago Tribune.
He pleaded not guilty to multiple drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges, a Justice Department statement said.
He is known by the alias “El Raton” or “The Mouse” and is accused of conspiring to transport cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States.
His father, El Chapo, was extradited from Mexico to the United States in 2017 and convicted two years later. He is now serving a life sentence for drug trafficking and murder in a maximum security prison.
The US has said that El Chapo’s four sons, known collectively as “The Chapitos” or “The Little Chapos”, inherited control of his Sinaloa cartel following his conviction.
Three other sons of the 66-year-old were also charged in the USA.
Ovidio Guzman was captured on January 5 in the northern Sinaloa city of Culiacan.
After his arrest, cartel members set fire to vehicles and wreaked havoc – an echo of massive shootings in 2019 when the younger Guzmán was arrested but quickly released to avoid bloodshed.
According to the Chicago Tribune, two of the six charges against Guzman in the United States carry a sentence of life in prison, prosecutors said. The US has agreed not to pursue the death penalty as part of its extradition negotiations with Mexico, the daily said.
Guzman will remain in custody until his trial and is due back in court in November.
Source : www.aljazeera.com