Overview
- Azucena Lazalde Íñiguez, a federal judge in Toluca, suspended any handover to U.S. authorities on Thursday, freezing Audias Flores Silva’s extradition until his appeal is decided.
- Flores, known as “El Jardinero,” remains in pretrial detention at the Altiplano maximum‑security prison after federal prosecutors charged him with carrying military‑grade weapons and ammunition.
- He was captured Monday in La Yesca, Nayarit, in a Navy‑led raid that officials say followed 19 months of surveillance and field operations by air and land.
- In a parallel action in Zapopan, agents arrested César Alejandro “El Güero Conta,” seized a rifle, methamphetamine and cash, and a judge ordered him held at the Puente Grande facility.
- The United States seeks Flores on organized crime, drug and weapons charges and had offered a $5 million reward, a push now paused in a case that tests Mexico’s recent practice of swift transfers without final extradition rulings.