Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada has been reprimanded by US agents after allegedly being ‘lured’ onto a flight to Texas by El Chapo’s son.
Mexican drug lord Zambada, 76, is thought to be the leader and co-founder of the international crime syndicate, the Sinaloa Cartel.
The organized crime group was founded in 1987 and is known to specialize in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering.
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Zambada has been wanted by Mexico’s attorney general’s office since 1998 but had never been arrested or incarcerated until yesterday (July 25).
In a statement, The US Justice Department confirmed they had taken Zambada into custody in Texas alongside 38-year-old Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, 67.
Both men are facing multiple charges in the US after allegedly leading the Cartel’s criminal operations, officials claim.
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These include crimes such as deadly fentanyl manufacturing and running trafficking networks.
Details of Zambada and Guzman Lopez’s arrest still remain unclear, but the pair are thought to have flown into the United States under ‘false pretences’.
The New York Times claims that Zambada was actually ‘lured’ onto the private plane by El Chapo’s son himself.
It’s also reported that Zambada initially believed he was traveling to inspect ‘clandestine airfields’ in Southern Mexico before being flown into Texas.
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Speaking about the arrests, US Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote: “El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States.
“That includes the Cartel’s other cofounder, Joaquin Guzman Loera, or ‘El Chapo’; another of El Chapo’s sons and an alleged Cartel leader, Ovidio Guzman Lopez; and the Cartel’s alleged lead sicario, Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, or ‘El Nini’.”
Officials added that ‘Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced’ and that the Justice Department ‘will not rest’ until ‘every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable.’
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FBI Director Christopher Wray added that these arrests were part of the country’s ‘commitment to dismantling violent transnational criminal organisations like the Sinaloa Cartel.’
El Chapo is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison after being found guilty of a number of criminal charges in 2019.
The drug kingpin was first captured in 1993 and was initially sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking.
However, escaped from the institution in 2001 and managed to evade police up until his re-arrest in 2014.
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Before his formal sentencing in 2015, he escaped again but was later recaptured following a tense shoot-out in 2016.
In 2019, he was extradited to the US and was later sentenced to life imprisonment and incarcerated in ADX Florence in Colorado.
UNILAD has contacted The US Justice Department for further comment.
Ella Scott