US Offers US$5 Million Bounty for High-Ranking CJNG Member

"MX" for Borderland Beat

Audias Flores-Silva

Today the U.S. Department of State announces a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Audias Flores Silva AKA El Jardinero (The Gardener), a high-level member of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG – Jalisco New Generation Cartel). 

This reward offer complements the Department of the Treasury’s designation today of Flores-Silva under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.  These actions are part of a whole of government approach to combating drug trafficking and transnational organized crime globally and in Mexico.

Flores-Silva is very closely aligned with the leader of the CJNG, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera-Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” who is also a designated target of the State Department Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP) with a reward offer of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.

Flores-Silva was charged in a federal indictment returned on August 13, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The indictment charges Flores-Silva with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, and one kilogram or more of heroin for importation into the United States, as well as carrying, using, and possessing a firearm in relation to a drug offense.

Flores Silva previously served a five-year prison term in the United States in connection with a conviction for narcotics trafficking.  After his release, he returned to Mexico.  In 2016, Mexican authorities arrested Flores Silva after being accused of orchestrating an April 2015 ambush against Mexican police officers in Soyatlan, Jalisco. Flores Silva was later released from Mexican prison after fighting his charges in Mexican courts.

US Department of the Treasury organizational chart showing Audias Flores-Silva

Sources: USDOS; USDOT