LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - A Mexican man wanted in a major drug case has been returned to the United States after more than 15 years as a fugitive, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said.

Juan Carlos Sanchez Gaytan, 37, first appeared in court in Arizona after being handed over by Mexico on Aug. 12. He will be moved to Laredo to face charges in federal court, officials said.

A federal grand jury charged Sanchez Gaytan and others in 2010 in a 47-count case that accuses them of moving large amounts of marijuana and cocaine from 2001 to 2008. Prosecutors said the crimes were tied to the Gulf Cartel and its armed wing, the Zetas, who fought the rival Sinaloa Cartel for control of the border around Nuevo Laredo.

Another cartel leader, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales — kno

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