The Cocaine Queen of the ‘Los Montes’ Cartel Gets Extradited From Honduras to the U.S.

The Legend of a Honduran narco named Herlinda “La Chinda” Bobadilla stretches far and wide, all throughout Latin America. Nicknamed the “Queen of Cocaine,” Bobadilla reportedly played an extremely pivotal role in designing smuggling routes for the drug empire known as the “Los Montes” cartel. The Honduras-based criminal organization allegedly featured elaborate drug trafficking schemes that were often carried out by her sons, who utilized partnerships with cartels from Mexico and Guatemala, along with a fleet of ships, planes, and trucks to move weight from Latin America into the United States. Therefore, the United States government put a $5 million bounty on Bobadilla’s head and her four sons.

After a lengthy manhunt, law enforcement officials in Honduras finally tracked Bobadilla down in a mountainous area located somewhere in the northeastern province of Colon, during a sting operation in May. The 62-year-old mother was taken alive, while her son, Tito, was fatally shot during an exchange of gunfire. On Tuesday, she was placed in the custody of six members of the DEA, at an air force base near the capital of Tegucigalpa, and flown to the United States. Her extradition is the latest effort by the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, to clamp down on the output of narcotics from her country. She will be joining her son, stateside, who was extradited to the U.S. back in November of 2019, following his arrest in Honduras. Government officials from the United States and Honduras are still in search of Juan Carlos Montes, the only one of Bobadilla’s sons who has managed to evade law enforcement thus far.

According to her indictment, Bobadilla is expected to stand trial for devising a “conspiracy to distribute cocaine to be unlawfully imported into the United States” at the Eastern District Court of Virginia.

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Source: Vice