Mexico has extradited several key alleged drugs smugglers to the US, including the reputed leader of one of country's most powerful drug cartels. Osiel Cardenas was among a group of 11 suspects handed over, officials said. He is said to lead the notorious Gulf cartel, responsible for smuggling drugs into the US, even continuing to run it from behind bars after his 2003 arrest. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, who took office in December 2006, has vowed to curb drug-related crime in Mexico. In mid-December he ordered thousands of troops to be sent to Michoacan state, on the Pacific coast, where drug-related crime killed more than 500 people last year. Correspondents say these latest extraditions show that Mr Calderon is also ready to co-operate with the US on major crime as promised.
Among the suspects handed over with Cardenas was Hector "El Guero" Palma, believed to be a senior figure in another trafficking cartel. The US had requested Cardenas' extradition to face charges of organised crime, drug trafficking, money laundering and assaults on federal agents. He was arrested in the northern Mexican city of Matamoros, in Tamaulipas state in 2003, after a dramatic gun battle in which a number of people, including at least two soldiers, were wounded. He was caught after a six-month operation in which authorities identified at least 300 people working for his organisation.