A known drug lord Oziel Cardenas Guillen was returned to Mexico after serving a US sentence and was quickly rearrested and sent to a maximum security prison to face Mexican charges.

There was nervousness about the impending return of Cárdenas Guillen, who once led the fearsome Gulf Cartel in northeastern Mexico before being arrested and extradited to the United States in 2007.

The US Department of Homeland Security confirmed on its social media accounts on Monday that Cárdenas Guillen had been returned after serving 14 years in US custody, the majority of his 25-year sentence in a US prison. He is a Mexican citizen, so he was probably deported.

"The successful removal of Osiel Cardenas, a known international fugitive, underscores our unwavering commitment to public safety and justice," Chicago Enforcement and Removal Operations Director Samuel Olson said in statement.

A Mexican federal official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Cardenas Guillen was immediately taken into custody in Mexico on drug, organized crime and money laundering charges.

The official said Cárdenas Guillen is being held at the country's maximum-security Altiplano prison, west of Mexico City.

Homeland Security Investigations released photos of a paunchy, balding, bespectacled Cardenas Guillen being escorted by two officers wearing helmets and body armor and being led across a border bridge.

The image contrasts with the drug lord's fearsome reputation for violence in Mexico.

Nicknamed "El Mata Amigos" ("The Killer of Friends"), he recruited ex-Mexican special forces soldiers to form his personal guard. The former boss of the Gulf cartel was known for his brutality. He created the most bloodthirsty gang of mercenaries Mexico has ever known, the Zetas, who routinely massacred migrants and innocent people.

The 57-year-old resident of the border town of Matamoros, Mexico, transported tons of cocaine and made millions of dollars through the Gulf Cartel based in the border towns of Reynosa and Matamoros.

After his arrest in the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas, he was extradited in 2007. in the United States where he was convicted in 2010 to 25 years in prison and was ordered to pay $50 million.

At the time, the Department of Justice supposed that Cardenas Guillen threatened to kill a Texas deputy sheriff who was working as an undercover ICE agent because he refused to deliver nearly 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.