Key cartel member with 1 million US bounty on the head is killed, says the Mexican government

Cnn
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Jorge Humberto Figueroa Benítez, identified by the United States government as the key member of the “Los Chapitos” starring, died during an operation to capture him in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, said the secretary for security and citizenship Omar García Harfuch on Saturday.

The operation against Figueroa Benitez, known as nickname “El Perris”, took place in Navolato, 32 kilometers (19 miles) of Culiacán, the capital of the state.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) offers Figueroa Benitez up to 1 million US dollars, which was sought due to alleged federal crimes, including conspiracy for import and traffic fentanyl, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy of money laundering.

In 2019, the city of Culiacán was a scene of a violent episode, which was known as the “Culiacanazo”, which, after the temporary capture of Ovidio Guzmán Lopez, one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, included violent armed clashes. Ovidio was later published by Mexican authorities and argued that it would “save life”.

After Ovidio Guzmán had been delivered to the USA in 2023, he did not guilty to wash drug trafficking and money laundering, although, according to court documents checked by CNN, this plea will now change.

At the beginning of May, a source of the US government told CNN that some of his relatives had crossed the border from Mexico to the United States in the San Ysidro entrance port, according to an agreement with the US Ministry of Justice.

CNN does not know the whereabouts of these people or whether they have entered the witness protection program. CNN has requested a comment from the US -Colle and Border Protection as well as the Ministry of Justice.