‘El Escorpion’ extradited to face drug charges in US

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – An alleged leader of a group the Drug Enforcement Administration accuses of flooding Los Angeles with fentanyl, meth and other illicit drugs has a May 17 date in U.S. federal court.

Juan Manuel Abouzaid El Bayeh, aka “El Escorpion” (The Scorpion), was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on April 29 after Mexican authorities arrested and put him on a plane to Washington, D.C. He faces charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and aiding and abetting criminal activities in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Federal officials also seek multiple forfeiture of property and proceeds he allegedly obtained from illicit profits, documents from an unsealed federal indictment show.

The Treasury Department through its Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2021 named Abouzaid as a “specially designated narcotics trafficker,” under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, for his alleged high-level role in facilitating drug shipments and money laundering to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG.

Abouzaid allegedly provided material assistance, money, technical support, goods and services in furtherance of Jalisco cartel activities, according to the Treasury Department. U.S. and Mexican authorities have since blocked Abouzaid’s known bank accounts.

The Treasury and the Department of Justice said Abouzaid maintains a close relationship with senior CJNG leaders such as drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” and has been in the drug trade since 2012.

“Treasury’s action against Abouzaid is a demonstration of the United States’ continuing commitment to dismantling CJNG by targeting critical cogs in the organization’s leadership structure,” the director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control said when announcing Abouzaid had been targeted by the Treasury.

“The CJNG is responsible for the majority of the fentanyl, methamphetamine and other illicit drugs that flood Los Angeles,” the special agent in charge of the DEA’s Los Angeles Field Division said at the time.

Records show Abouzaid’s Houston-based attorney secured a two-week grace period from the court to prepare an adequate defense. A May 3 status hearing has been postponed to May 17.

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