Notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo, was extradited Thursday to the United States, where hes wanted on charges that include homicide and drug trafficking, Mexicos foreign ministry said.

Guzman, who twice broke out of Mexican maximum-security prisons, had been incarcerated in Mexico for the last year. He was recaptured in January 2016, following six months on the run after tunneling out of a prison the year before. Since May, he had been held in a jail in Ciudad Juarez, near the U.S. border.

He was being flown to New York, according to The Associated Press.

The U.S. Justice Department said in a statement that the government extends its gratitude to the Government of Mexico for their extensive cooperation and assistance in securing the extradition of Guzman Loera to the United States.

Guzmn headed the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexicos largest drug-trafficking organization. His breakout from the Altiplano prison through a tunnel in his shower in July 2015 was a major embarrassment for the administration of Mexican President Enrique Pea Nieto.

It was the second time Guzmn had escaped from a maximum-security prison. He broke out in 2001 from a prison where he reportedly had been allowed visits from sex workers .

When Mexican security officials recaptured him after the tunnel escape last year, Mexico agreed to honor a U.S. extradition request, which some observers viewed as a tacit admission that the Mexican government might not be able to keep Guzmn from escaping again.

Guzmn has been indicted in seven U.S. jurisdictions on charges that include homicide, drug trafficking and money laundering. Guzmns legal team fought the extradition hard, delaying his transfer to the U.S. for more than a year.

Mexico refuses extradition to countries that will seek the death penalty. New York does not have capital punishment.