MEXICO CITY (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel applauded Mexican authorities Tuesday for the arrest and handover of one of many FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” suspects, an alleged gang chief from El Salvador.
Francisco Javier Román Bardales is allegedly a senior chief of the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 gang. He was arrested Monday within the mountains of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz by troopers and federal brokers.
“This is a major victory both for our law enforcement partners and for a safer America,” Patel wrote.
Mexico’s safety chief Omar García Harfuch applauded the arrest Monday, which his company stated was the results of worldwide cooperation. The company referred to his handover as a deportation to the US.
Román Bardales faces expenses associated to violent crime, drug distribution and extortion within the Japanese District of New York.
The Mara Salvatrucha was certainly one of eight Latin American felony organizations declared overseas terrorist organizations by the U.S. authorities final month.
FBI Director Kash Patel stated through X Tuesday that Roman Bardales was being transported inside the U.S. He thanked Mexican authorities for his or her assist.
The arrest and swift handover got here simply weeks after Mexico handed over 29 drug cartel figures, together with drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985.
Mexico has additionally stepped up operations in opposition to the Sinaloa cartel, a essential trafficker of fentanyl to the US.
President Claudia Sheinbaum has labored to point out U.S. President Donald Trump that Mexico is a dependable accomplice on safety and immigration. The outcomes have to date stored most of Trump’s tariffs at bay.
The Trump administration despatched two different high members of MS-13 to El Salvador over the weekend, together with lots of of Venezuelan immigrants.
