International Courant
Two prime leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel have been arrested and charged by U.S. authorities for his or her roles in directing the group’s large-scale drug trafficking operation, the Justice Division introduced Thursday.
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of “El Chapo” Guzman, have been arrested Thursday in El Paso, Texas, Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland mentioned.
“Each males face a number of fees in america for guiding the cartel’s prison actions, together with its lethal fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” Garland mentioned in a press release. “El Mayo and Guzman Lopez be a part of a rising checklist of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates that the Division of Justice is holding accountable in america.”
Zambada made his preliminary look Friday morning in federal courtroom in El Paso earlier than Decide Anne Berton, in line with courtroom information. He pleaded not responsible to the 12 fees in his 2012 indictment within the Western District of Texas and was ordered held pending his subsequent listening to, scheduled for July 31, in line with courtroom information.
Zambada, 76, was confined to a wheelchair and made no statements aside from asking Berton “Sure,” “No” or “Sure, I perceive,” in line with a transcript of the proceedings obtained by ABC Information.
In the course of the proceedings, Berton mentioned that Ray Velarde, an lawyer who plans to hitch the case, has an impressive battle in representing Zambada, which the defendant might waive if he so chooses. The choose didn’t elaborate on the character of the battle.
Zambada faces a number of federal fees in U.S. jurisdictions for his alleged position within the cartel and has been a fugitive from U.S. and Mexican legislation enforcement for years. His Sinaloa cartel co-founder, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was extradited to the U.S. in 2017, convicted in 2019 and sentenced to life in jail.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez arrives in U.S. custody.
Obtained by ABC Information
“As we speak, the FBI and DEA arrested two alleged cartel leaders who’ve eluded legislation enforcement for many years. Ismael Mario ‘El Mayo’ Zambada García and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of El Chapo, will now face justice in america,” FBI Director Christopher Wray mentioned in a press release.
“Garcia and Guzman allegedly oversaw the trafficking of tens of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into america, together with related violence. These arrests are an instance of the FBI and our companions’ dedication to dismantling violent transnational prison organizations just like the Sinaloa Cartel,” Wray mentioned.
The lads have been arrested in an operation that ended on American soil.
“El Mayo” thought he was on his technique to examine a clandestine Mexican airport, of which the Sinaloa cartel has many within the nation. As a substitute, in line with a Homeland Safety Investigations official, a high-ranking member of the cartel double-crossed him and flew him to El Paso as a substitute.
Upon touchdown on the ramp, HSI and FBI brokers arrested “El Mayo” and Guzman.
The HSI official instructed ABC Information the operation had been deliberate “for months.”
They have been handcuffed by FBI brokers throughout an operation that ended at an airstrip not removed from El Paso.
“The arrest of Ismael Zambada García, higher often known as ‘El Mayo,’ one of many alleged founders and leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, strikes on the coronary heart of the cartel that’s accountable for almost all of the medicine, together with fentanyl and methamphetamine, which are killing People from coast to coast. El Mayo is without doubt one of the DEA’s most wished fugitives and he’s in custody tonight and can quickly seem in a U.S. courtroom,” mentioned Anne Milgram, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
This mixture of photos, offered by the U.S. State Division, exhibits Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a historic chief of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, left, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of one other infamous cartel chief, after they have been arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas, the U.S. Division of Justice mentioned Thursday, July 25, 2024.
US Division of State through AP
“Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one other alleged chief of the Sinaloa Cartel and the son of ‘El Chapo,’ was additionally arrested right this moment — his arrest is one other devastating blow to the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2017, he and his brothers, the Chapitos, reportedly seized management of the Sinaloa Cartel after El Chapo was extradited to america. The DEA will proceed to hunt justice for all American lives misplaced and can work tirelessly to forestall extra pointless deaths and prosecute these accountable,” Milgram mentioned.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador referred to as the arrests a “breakthrough” within the battle towards the drug disaster within the US in a commentary on Friday.
Mexican authorities mentioned they weren’t conscious that the 2 could be extradited to the U.S. for arrest, Mexican authorities mentioned at a information convention on Friday.
Mexican authorities acquired a name from the U.S. Embassy Thursday afternoon saying the 2 have been in custody in El Paso, authorities mentioned. Mexican authorities have requested U.S. officers for photographs of the 2 males to substantiate the knowledge.
In response to the flight plan, the non-public airplane carrying the 2 males flew from Hermosillo, Sonora, to Santa Teresa, New Mexico, Mexican authorities mentioned.
The airplane that introduced Sinaloa Cartel co-founders Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez to the U.S. is seen on the bottom at Dona Ana Jetport, July 25, 2024, in Santa Teresa, N.M.
KVIA
The US authorities had provided a $15 million reward for info resulting in Zambada’s arrest and/or conviction.
“Too lots of our residents have misplaced their lives to the scourge of fentanyl,” President Joe Biden mentioned in a press release Friday morning. “Too many households are damaged and struggling by the hands of this harmful drug. My administration will proceed to do every part we will to carry lethal drug traffickers accountable and save American lives.”
Guzman Lopez’s brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, was indicted final yr together with two dozen others as a part of a crackdown on a worldwide drug trafficking community run by means of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. The fees allege that the cartel used precursor chemical compounds shipped from China to gasoline the fentanyl disaster that has plagued the U.S.
These video clips, offered by the Mexican authorities, present Ovidio Guzman Lopez being detained in Culiacan, Mexico on October 17, 2019.
CEPROPIE through AP, FILE
Ovidio Guzman Lopez had been wished by US authorities since 2019 and was captured by Mexican forces in January 2023 in a small city simply outdoors the town of Culiacán, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
He was captured in an in a single day raid that had been happening for greater than six months, officers mentioned on the time. The arrest adopted an notorious incident in 2019 wherein authorities briefly held Guzman Lopez in a home in Culiacán earlier than information unfold and closely armed gunmen flooded the town. Large shootouts between cartel members and Mexican army forces erupted across the metropolis. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered Guzman Lopez’s launch to keep away from extra bloodshed.
Their father is serving a life sentence within the US after being convicted in 2019 of conducting a unbroken prison enterprise, together with main drug legislation violations and a homicide conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracies, illegal use of a firearm and a cash laundering conspiracy.
Prime Sinaloa cartel leaders, together with El Chapo’s son, arrested in US custody: DOJ
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