CONCORD, N.H. – The U.S. Attorney’s office in New Hampshire says a member of the Sinaloa drug cartel has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Jesus Gonzalo Palazuelos Soto of Mexico was in federal court in Concord on Monday. Prosecutors said he was arrested in Spain in 2012, where he was to monitor the delivery of 346 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipping container.
Prosecutors say the delivery resulted from negotiations between members of the cartel, allegedly led by Joaquin Guzman, and undercover FBI agents posing as members of an organized crime syndicate. Guzman, known as “El Chapo,” was arrested earlier this year in Mexico.
Soto is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 22 and faces at least 10 years in prison.
He’s one of a group indicted in New Hampshire.
Authorities said the investigation behind the New Hampshire indictments began in 2009. Undercover FBI agents later posed as members of a European drug trafficking organization and held numerous meetings with the arrested men in Spain, Mexico and the United States.
Two of those meetings, according to court documents, took place in New Castle and Portsmouth.
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