Mexican drug trafficker Sandra ávila Beltrán, also known as "La Reina del Pacífico" or "The Queen of the Pacific," was deported to México on Tuesday by American authorities. Once in her home country, ávila Beltrán was arrested by Mexican police on charges of money-laundering, Latin Times reported.
ávila Beltrán completed a 70-month sentence in a U.S. prison and walked out a free woman. However, she was put in a medium-security prison for women in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, Mexico. She was then reportedly sent to a jail in Jalisco, the state where the charges were filed against her.
According to the Latin Times, a judge in Jalisco issued a "re-apprehension order for ávila Beltrán after re-opening penal processing which had been suspended when she was extradited to the United States on August 9, 2012 to face cocaine distribution charges."
Last month, the 52-year-old was sentenced to time served in a federal court in Miami for helping her ex-boyfriend Juan Diego Espinosa Ramírez, a Colombian drug dealer, evade justice. She has been also accused of conspiring to import and distribute cocaine in the U.S. from 1994 to 2004, but was absolved of the charge.
ávila Beltrán was sentenced to 70 months in prison, but federal Judge Michael Moore counted the time she already served in México, Borderland Beat reported. "It is 70 months counting from September 28 2007, when she was arrested in Mexico, therefore she could be set free on the next weekend," said her lawyer Stephen Ralls after the sentencing, according to Latin Times.
"The Queen of the Pacific" said she "was never involved in drug trafficking" and confessed to feeling "sad" about the entire experience, according to Ralls. The Miami Herald reported that she would not appeal the sentence.
According to the Borderland Beat, ávila Beltrán herself was a prominent figure of the Sinaloa cartel. Following the couple's arrest in México, they were both extradited to the United States. She became known as "The Queen of the Pacific" in 2004, after a "narcocorrido," or drug ballad, by Mexican band Los Tucanes de Tijuana.
She is the niece of Miguel Angel Félix Gallardo, also known as "El Padrino" (The Godfather), a drug trafficker who is serving a longterm prison sentence in México. She is also the grand-niece of the co-founder of the Juarez cartel, Juan José Quintero Payan, who was sentenced to 18 years behind bars on drug trafficking charges in the U.S.
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