Mexico’s federal police said they have detained a man identified as one of the top money launderers for drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who they say laundered $4bn in the past decade.

The police agency said on its Twitter account that Juan Manuel Alvarez, known as “King Midas”, was detained in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Alvarez is suspected of laundering $300m-$400m a year for Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel through a network of companies and currency exchange centres, adding up to a total of around $4bn.

In a written statement, the police and the interior department said the arrest was carried out in a joint operation with the army and was the result of intelligence work.



“Groups of elite federal police and the Mexican Army arrested Juan Manuel Alvarez Inzunza, nicknamed ‘El Rey Midas’ (‘King Midas’) in Oaxaca,” the statement said.

The statement said he was arrested on a provisional extradition warrant from the United States, where he is wanted on money laundering charges.

Alvarez operated in Sinaloa and Jalisco states, but was in Oaxaca on holiday when he was detained, and was captured without any “need to shoot off firearms and without putting other citizens at risk,” federal police added.

The Sinaloa Cartel has long been viewed as Mexico’s most profitable drug gang. Guzmán was the one of the Sinaloa cartel’s top leaders before he was arrested in January.

Alvarez allegedly operated through front companies bought by third parties and through money exchanges. He also was involved in a drug operation in the western state of Jalisco, police said.

Guzmán is also facing extradition to the US on charges of drug trafficking and murder.

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report