Mexico expels 26 cartel members to US

Mexico has expelled more than two dozen people imprisoned as suspected cartel members wanted by the United States, amid rising pressure from President Donald Trump's administration to dismantle the country's powerful drug organisations.

Authorities sent 26 prisoners who were wanted in the US for ties to drug-trafficking groups, Mexico's attorney general's office and security ministry said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Mexico said the US Department of Justice had requested their extradition and that it would not seek the death penalty for the accused capos.

Those being handed over to US custody include Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, a leader of "Los Cuinis," a group closely aligned with the notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation or CJNG.

Another person, Roberto Salazar, is accused of participating in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, the person said.

It's the second time in months Mexico has expelled cartel figures accused of narcotics smuggling, murder and other crimes amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to curb the flow of drugs across the border.

In February, Mexico handed over to American authorities 29 cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a US DEA agent in 1985.

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Source: TRT