SAN DIEGO – A reputed top enforcer for the Sinaloa Mexican drug cartel has been extradited to face federal charges in San Diego, six months after his capture in the Netherlands.
The U.S. attorney's office says Jose Rodrigo Arechiga-Gamboa arrived at a San Diego airport from Amsterdam Thursday afternoon and remains in federal custody. It's unclear whether he has a U.S. attorney.
Arechiga-Gamboa is charged with conspiracy to import and distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.
Authorities believe he's a leader of a group of cartel enforcers called "The Anthrax," after the deadly disease.
He was arrested at an airport in Amsterdam last December. Authorities say he had a phony Mexican passport with the name of a dead man, had undergone plastic surgery and had tried to alter his fingerprints.
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