Mexican judge approves another U.S. request to extradite druglord Guzman

A Mexican judge has endorsed the application by a U.S. court for extraditing drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States for prosecution, Mexico's Federal Judicial Council said on Monday.

Jesus Diaz, the Eighth District criminal judge in the Federal District of Mexico City, said the application, submitted by the U.S. Federal Court for the Western District of Texas, meets all the necessary legal requirements, according to a press release issued by the Federal Judicial Council.

This is the second time a Mexican judge has approved such an application, following a previous approval of an extradition procedure requested by a court in California which accused Guzman of smuggling tons of cocaine within its jurisdiction.

However, the final say over the issue rests with the Mexican Foreign Ministry. And if the ministry approves the request, Guzman's defense lawyers will have 30 days to file an appeal.

The Texas court, which has been wanting the druglord since 2012, accuses him of criminal association, importing and distributing cocaine and marijuana, money laundering, and a murder in 2009.

Guzman's defence team announced they will appeal to injunct or slow down the extradition unless the United States agrees that the druglord could be housed in a medium security prison and receive less punishment.

Guzman has been in Ciudad Juarez's federal prison in the northern state of Chihuahua since May 7 after the penitentiary authorities moved him from a Altiplano high security prison in central Mexico, where he had been confined since his recapture on Jan. 8.

The druglord escaped from Altiplano prison in July 2015 through an underground tunnel built by his accomplices. He was on the run for almost six months before being recaptured in January.

Guzman first escaped from prison in January 2001 by hiding in a laundry basket and was recaptured 13 years later in February 2014. Endi