Two leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, including the son of notorious former drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were arrested on US soil Thursday, authorities said.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez — El Chapo’s son — were detained in El Paso, Texas, on charges related to the sprawling drug-trafficking organization, the US Justice Department announced.
“The Justice Department has taken into custody two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The pair face multiple charges in the US “for heading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.”
The pair in charge of the cartel face charges for fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking.
They were caught after landing in a private plane in El Paso, sources told Reuters.
The US government has been trying to nail Zambada for years, offering a $15 million reward for information that would lead to his capture.
He was charged in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and distribute the synthetic opioid, with prosecutors saying he led “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”
A faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos, or “Chapitos,” has been identified as the main exporter of fentanyl to the US market.
Zambada and Lopez were arrested after their private jet landed in El Paso.
Zambada is among the longest-surviving drug lords in Mexico and was more involved in day-to-day operations than his flashier and better-known boss, El Chapo Guzmán.
The duo founded the Sinaloa Cartel together in the 1970s, but Zambada rose to the top after El Chapo was sentenced to life in US prison in 2019.
The cartel co-founder and Los Chapitos have had a fractious relationship since El Chapo’s extradition. APThursday’s arrests follow several other important busts of Sinaloa Cartel figures, including one of Zambada’s sons and another son of “El Chapo” Guzmán, Ovidio Guzmán López
Zambada’s son pleaded guilty in a US federal court in San Diego in 2021 to being a leader in the Sinaloa Cartel.
Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested and extradited to the US last year. He pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges in Chicago in September.
With Post wires
