Mexican drug lord ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and son of ‘El Chapo’ arrested in Texas | News

In a significant blow to the Sinaloa drug cartel, Ismael Zambada Garcia and Joaquin Guzman Lopez had been detained after touchdown in El Paso on a personal airplane.

Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia and the son of his former companion, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, have been arrested in El Paso, Texas, in a significant coup for United States regulation enforcement which will additionally reshape the Mexican felony panorama.

Zambada Garcia, who’s believed to be in his 70s, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who’s in his 30s, had been detained after touchdown in a personal airplane in El Paso, two US officers instructed the Reuters information company.

“The Justice Division has taken into custody two further alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, some of the violent and highly effective drug trafficking organisations on this planet,” the US Division of Justice mentioned on Thursday.

Identified by this underworld title El Mayo, Zambada Garcia is alleged to be some of the consequential drug traffickers in Mexico’s historical past. He co-founded the Sinaloa cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the US in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a most safety jail.

Zambada Garcia and the youthful Guzman face a number of expenses within the US for allegedly funnelling big portions of medicine to the US, together with fentanyl, which has surged in use to develop into the main explanation for loss of life for Individuals between the ages of 18 and 45.

Garcia appeared earlier than a US choose shortly after the arrest and entered a plea of not responsible, based on courtroom paperwork. He was remanded in custody and is to seem in courtroom once more on July 31.

Guzman Lopez didn’t instantly seem in courtroom. He’s one among 4 sons of El Chapo – identified collectively as Los Chapitos – who inherited their father’s faction of the Sinaloa cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested final yr and extradited to the US.

The US Justice Division had been providing $15m for info resulting in the seize of Zambada Garcia, who US regulation enforcement claims turned the Sinaloa cartel’s “unquestioned senior chief” following El Chapo’s arrest.

In a press release, US Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland mentioned Zambada Garcia and Guzman Lopez expenses stem from heading the Cartel’s felony operations, together with its lethal fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks”.

“We is not going to relaxation till each single cartel chief, member, and affiliate answerable for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Garland mentioned.

President Joe Biden additionally mentioned in a press release the US “will proceed doing every thing we will to carry lethal drug traffickers to account and to avoid wasting American lives”.

“Too lots of our residents have misplaced their lives to the scourge of fentanyl,” he mentioned.

Mexican authorities, in the meantime, mentioned they weren’t concerned within the operation, which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador described as “an vital advance within the battle in opposition to drug trafficking.”

Lopez Obrador mentioned he anticipated a “full report” from america on how the boys had been taken into custody. “There have to be transparency,” he mentioned.

Lawyer Basic Merrick B. Garland Assertion on Arrests of Alleged Leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel Ismael Zambada Garcia (El Mayo) and Joaquin Guzman Lopez

🔗: https://t.co/LumvDMKx2F pic.twitter.com/Wcm20MLrhC

— U.S. Division of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) July 26, 2024

El Mayo and El Chapo’s sons: Two totally different kinds

The Sinaloa cartel traffics medicine to greater than 50 international locations across the globe and is one among two strongest organised crime teams in Mexico, based on US authorities.

However Zambada Garcia and El Chapo’s sons belong to 2 totally different generations of drug traffickers, with differing kinds.

Zambada Garcia is understood for being “old-school”, avoiding the limelight and working within the shadows. El Chapo’s sons, in contrast, have a fame for being flashy drug traffickers who courted consideration as they ascended the ranks of the cartel.

El Chapo’s sons are additionally identified to be extra violent and hot-headed than Zambada Garcia, who had a fame as a shrewd operator.

Earlier arrests of vital Mexican cartel leaders have triggered violence as energy vacuums open, resulting in important infighting inside felony organisations and between them and their rival cartels.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, a researcher at Washington’s Brookings Establishment who carefully displays Mexican safety, mentioned the potential for violence because of the arrests “definitely looms very giant”.