Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been extradited to the US, the Mexican governments annnounced on Thursday.
US officials confirmed he was on a flight to New York from Cuidad Juarez.
Mr Guzman, who could face life in a US prison, is wanted on charges of drug trafficking and smuggling vast amounts of drugs into the country.
The leader of the Sinaloa cartel was facing two extradition requests – one from California and another from Texas.
Last year he was moved to a prison in Ciudad Juarez, which lies just across the border from El Paso in Texas, but authorities at the time denied the transfer was a precursor to extradition.
Mr Guzman has been fighting to stay in Mexico but his appeals were rejected.
He was under close watch, having previously broken out of two Mexican high-security jails.
The extradition to the United States of “El Chapo”Guzman brings to an end one of the most notorious drug lord sagas of modern times. Believed to have amassed a billion dollar fortune through the illegal drug trade, Guzman was always likely to make headlines.