Alleged Mexican drug lord wins appeal to delay extradition

Alleged drug lord Hector Beltran Leyva has won a procedural appeal that will set back an extradition request from the United States, but he won't be freed.

Mexico's Federal Judiciary Council says a court has found a procedural error in the extradition process, and ordered part of the process must be re-done.

The council said today that Beltran Leyva will remain in prison while the proceedings are carried out.

Mexico had agreed to extradite him, but a judge said the government had not scientifically proved his identity. Beltran Leyva was arrested in 2014 in the central city of San Miguel de Allende.
 

The family-run Beltran Leyva cartel was once a leading player in Mexican drug trafficking. But brothers Alfredo and Arturo were arrested or killed.