More than 20 people who collaborated with the Sinaloa cartel have pleaded guilty and sentenced in the US

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A drug trafficker with the Sinaloa Cartel will spend the next 16 years in a United States prison for overseeing narcotic shipments from Mexico to the U.S., then smuggling the proceeds back to Mexico.

Roberto Gallegos-Lechuga, 39, was sentenced Tuesday by the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, nearly six months after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money across international borderlines.

He was extradited from Mexico to the United States in March 2020.

As a member of the powerful cartel co-founded by Joaquín ‘El Chapo‘ Guzmán, Gallegos-Lechuga coordinated massive shipments of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin through ports of entry in the Southern California region.

Roberto Gallegos-Lechuga was sentenced  to 188 months in prison on Tuesday by the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. The 39-year-old pleaded guilty in July 2021 to supervising the smuggling of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin from Mexico into the United States and the smuggling of drug proceeds from the United States to Mexico for the Sinaloa Cartel

Roberto Gallegos-Lechuga was sentenced to 188 months in prison on Tuesday by the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

The 39-year-old pleaded guilty in July 2021 to supervising the smuggling of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin from Mexico into the United States and the smuggling of drug proceeds from the United States to Mexico for the Sinaloa Cartel

Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán is serving a life sentenced at a Colorado prison

Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán is serving a life sentence at a Colorado prison

He was also tasked with supervising and managing a group of couriers who smuggled hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds back to Mexico.

At least seven other defendants who were linked to the scheme pleaded guilty and were sentenced. 

Another 20 individuals who were hired as couriers to deliver drugs and money and managed stashed houses have also pleaded guilty and were sentenced in related cases.