Mexico willing to extradite Guzman

But Beith speculates that Guzman could want such a project for financial reasons, to leave money for his family since the Mexican and US governments have seized so many of his properties in the a year ago in an effort to shut him down. He has an estimated net worth of $1 billion.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it doesn’t comment on pending extradition requests “before they become the subject of public judicial proceedings”.

Guzman was arrested on Friday in the city of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa – which he had come to dominate through the drugs cartel he led.

Gomez told reporters Guzman sought contact with various members of the film industry with hopes of selling the rights to a biographical film about his life.

A law enforcement official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said Guzman was captured at a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis. But Guzman’s lawyers already had filed appeals and received injunctions that could delay the extradition process for months or even years.

During the early-morning raid, he managed to flee through a drain but was later caught by marines in a shootout.

Officially, Murillo Karam said Guzman would not be extradited until he finished serving his time in Mexico, a sentiment echoed by Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Eduardo Medina-Mora.

“In strict adherence to the constitution, he can’t and shouldn’t be extradited to any country”, the lawyer, Juan Pablo Badillo, told Milenio TV.

After coming under fire for failing to do so the last time, Mexico’s Attorney General’s office said in July it had approved an order to extradite him north of the border.

Sending Guzman to the United States would help allay fears the drug lord could use his massive fortune to bribe prison officials and escape from a Mexican maximum security jail yet again.

Guzman and his security chief fled through the city’s drainage system, repeating a tactic the drug kingpin successfully used in escaping authorities in 2014 in the nearby city of Culiacan.

Who is “El Chapo” Guzman?

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a statement praised Mexico for Guzman’s capture and said he “will now have to answer for his alleged crimes”.

News has learned from multiple USA sources that Hollywood producers seeking to turn the Sinaloa cartel chieftain’s life story into a movie notified US officials that they were working on the biopic and were headed to Mexico for research.

In the United States, the Drug Enforcement Administration hailed the capture as proof of the close relationship between the two countries.

Mexico’s foreign ministry said the petitions fulfilled all the requirements and forwarded the petion to the federal Attorney General’s office of PGR who then relayed the request to judges so a warrant for El Chapo’s arrest for extradition purposes were issued in July and September of past year.

It was in response to a post by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announcing to the world on Twitter that El Chapo had been captured.

But he was spied in the company of two women and a young girl, prompting the Marines to hold fire and allowing him to slip their grasp.

In October, the government said Guzman narrowly evaded security forces searching for him in the northwest of Mexico, sustaining injuries to his face and leg. Until El Chapo, no-one had ever successfully escaped from the facility.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is made to face the press as he is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican soldiers and marines at a federal hangar in Mexico City, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016.