Honduras' Supreme Court has authorized the extradition of the brother-in-law of a cartel member to the US for trial on drug-trafficking charges, a spokesman for the tribunal said Thursday.

The country now has two weeks to send Jose Raul Amaya, a 49-year-old Honduran, to the US state of Virginia for trial, the spokesman, Melvin Duarte, said.

Amaya was arrested in the western Honduran region of Copan in September, eight months after a warrant was issued against him.

He is the brother of Marlen Amaya, wife to Jose Inocente Valle, a member of the Los Valles cartel targeted by the US for dealing in drugs and money laundering.

Valle and his wife were extradited to America in January, joining two other Valle brothers sent there a month earlier. A sister has also been captured in the US. All are accused of drug trafficking.

The US Treasury Department in 2014 called the Los Valles group "one of the most prolific Central American narcotics trafficking organizations."

It alleged the family cartel distributed tons of cocaine a month in the US, used violence and corruption to maintain a stronghold in the Copan region on the border with Guatemala, and laundered money through coffee, cattle and milk businesses.