Extraditing notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States may take at least one year because the Mexican cartel boss has the right to appeal, according to authorities in Mexico.

In a report from BBC, Jose Manuel Merino from the Mexican attorney general's office explained that it will take a long time before El Chapo could be legally transferred to the U.S. government's custody because Guzman is allowed, by law, to appeal his extradition.

According to the outlet, the American government requested for custody of the Mexican drug lord after he was indicted by several U.S. federal district courts for smuggling illegal substances into the country.

The extradition request from the nation may have also been triggered by several instances when the Mexican drug kingpin escaped his prison guards as featured in an article from Time.

In fact, Washington released a statement on Monday, cited by AFP (via Yahoo News), emphasizing the importance of keeping Guzman from escaping again.

"Certainly we've made our concerns known to Mexican authorities about the danger posed by this particular individual," State Department spokesman John Kirby stated.

He further noted that Mexico may already have some inkling on the matter, considering that the world is watching.

"And I think it's safe to assume that they understand that the world is watching how this case moves forward and that this individual needs to stay behind bars," he added.

What is more interesting in the recent turn of events is that El Chapo almost escaped the raid that led to his capture, a fact that Mexican authorities allegedly tried to conceal per a report from the Sydney Morning Herald.

"He slipped away from the first group charged with capturing him, using the same technique as before, using the drains," Francisco Salvador Lopez Brito of National Action Party told the outlet, adding that the entire capture can be attributed to luck because he was actually getting away from his captors.

The SMH further revealed that President Enrique Pena Nieto attributed the capture to the outstanding performance of the Mexican police who restored faith in his administration.

"It certainly restored some credibility to his government, which was ridiculed six months ago when Guzman escaped from a maximum security prison -- for the second time -- through a tunnel dug right into his cell," the report read.

The outlet further noted that contrary to what Mexican officials claimed, some still believe that El Chapo was not actually the target of raid, and may not have known that he was in the house when they attacked it.