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Mexican Cartel 'Queen Of The Pacific' To Be Released From Prison

Notorious Drug Smuggler To Be Released From Prison
Reuters
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CORRECTS TO REPLACE "CONVICTED" WITH "ACCUSED" - FILE - This Sept. 28, 2007 file photo released by the Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR) shows Sandra Avila Beltran after she was arrested by federal agents outside a restaurant in Mexico City. A Mexican official says on Aug. 20, 2013 that accused drug trafficker Sandra Avila has returned to Mexico from the U.S. and has been handed over to Mexican authorities. She was sentenced to 70 months in prison in Miami federal court in July 2013 and released for time served in Mexico. Avilaￃﾢￂﾀￂﾙs lawyer says she faces a money-laundering charge in Guadalajara, Mexico. (AP Photo/PGR, File)

(Updates with official confirmation, details)

MEXICO CITY, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A jailed Mexican drug smuggler known as the "Queen of the Pacific" is to be released after partially completing a five-year sentence on money-laundering charges, the attorney general's office said on Saturday.

A federal judge in Mexico's western Jalisco state accepted the appeal of Sandra Avila Beltran and ordered her immediate release, saying her five-year sentence was based on the same crime that triggered previous stints behind bars.

Avila Beltran, the highest-profile woman linked to Mexico's drug trade, was expected to be set free later on Saturday, a federal security official said on condition of anonymity.

Avila Beltran was sentenced to a nearly six-year prison term in the United States before being extradited to Mexico in 2013 to face money-laundering charges.

Her incarceration in both Mexico and the United States stemmed from charges that she provided money to former Colombian drug lord Juan Diego Espinosa to help him avoid arrest.

In 2014, she was sentenced to the five-year prison term in Mexico.

The attorney general's office said in a statement on Saturday that it was not permitted by law to appeal the judge's order.

Avila Beltran was first detained in Mexico in 2007. She allegedly helped build the Sinaloa cartel in the 1990s with Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted drug boss until he was captured early last year.

Avila Beltran, niece of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, known as the godfather of the Mexican drug trade, was extradited to the United States in August 2012.

She is known as "Queen of the Pacific" because of her success developing smuggling routes along Mexico's Pacific Coast into California. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Miguel Angel Gutierrez; Editing by Dan Grebler; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Before You Go

Cartels Coming To America
Jack Riley, Vince Balbo(01 of07)
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In this Dec. 11, 2012 file photo, Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago, points out local Mexican drug cartel problem areas on a map in the new interagency Strike Force office in Chicago. Looking on is DEA agent Vince Balbo. The ruthless syndicates have long been the nations No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File) (credit:AP)
Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman(02 of07)
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FILE - This Feb. 14, 2013 file photo, shows a poster displayed at a Chicago Crime Commission news conference in Chicago, where Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, a drug kingpin in Mexico, was named as Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, It is first time since prohibition, when the label was created for Al Capone, that anyone else has been named Public Enemy No. 1. Ruthless drug cartels have long been the nations No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File) (credit:AP)
Jose Gonzales-Zavala(03 of07)
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This photo dated in 2007 from federal court documents provided by attorneys for Jose Gonzales-Zavala shows Gonzales-Zavala with two of his children allegedly taken in Mexico. Prosecutors say Gonzales-Zavala was a member of the La Familia cartel, based in southwestern Mexico, and dispatched to the Chicago area to oversee one of the cartel's lucrative trafficking cells. His defense team entered the photograph into evidence during the sentence stage of his case in arguing for leniency. In 2011, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison by a federal judge in Chicago. (AP Photo/Attorneys for Jose Gonzales-Zavala) (credit:AP)
Art Bilek, Jack Riley, Peter Bensinger(04 of07)
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In this Feb. 14, 2013 photo, Art Bilek, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission, left, announces that Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, a drug kingpin in Mexico, has been named Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, during a news conference in Chicago. Looking on is Jack Riley, right, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago and Peter Bensinger, former Administrator of the United States DEA. Ruthless drug cartels have long been the nations No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (credit:AP)
Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez(05 of07)
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This 2009 photo provided by the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department in Lawrenceville, Ga., shows reputed cartel operative Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez after his arrest in a suburb of Atlanta. Hernandez-Rodriguez was later convicted of sweeping drug trafficking charges. Prosecutors said he was a high-ranking figure in the La Familia cartel, sent to the U.S. to run a drug cell. His defense lawyers denied he was a major figure in the cartel. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Gwinnett County Sheriffs Department) (credit:AP)
(06 of07)
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FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2009 file photo, weapons and drugs seized in special joint operation conducted with the Drug Enforecement Administration against the La Familia drug cartel based out of Michoacan, Mexico and operating in San Bernardino and surrounding counties, are on display at a news conference at sheriff's headquarters in San Bernardino, Calif. Drug cartels have long been the nations No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) (credit:AP)
(07 of07)
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FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2010 file photo, bales of marijuana are wheeled out at a news conference in Jonesboro, Ga. Forty-five people were arrested 45 people along with cash, guns and more than two tons of drugs as part of an investigation by federal and local law enforcement into the Atlanta-area U.S. distribution hub of Mexico's La Familia drug cartel. Drug cartels have long been the nations No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, John Spink) MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT; LOCAL TV OUT; WXIA-TV OUT; WGCL-TV OUT (credit:AP)
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