An alleged Mexican drug cartel leader arrested in Texas was duped into flying to the US, officials have said.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was detained on Thursday alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
The pair were arrested in El Paso, Texas, and are alleged to have been leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, which the US Justice Department described as “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organisations in the world”.
An anonymous official told the Associated Press that Zambada got on the plane to the US believing he was going somewhere else – but did not reveal who persuaded him to board the flight or where exactly he thought he was going.
A plane believed to have carried Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Pic: Reuters
However Reuters news agency reported that three current and former officials familiar with the operation said it was Guzman Lopez who lured Zambada to America.
US authorities have made drug bosses key targets, frequently striking plea bargain deals with them in exchange for information that leads to the capture of other high-ranking cartel figures.
Reuters said it could not immediately confirm a plea bargain deal had been struck, but if Zambada was betrayed by Guzman Lopez it could have major ramifications for the Sinaloa cartel – and violence more generally in Mexico.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez. Pic: US State Department
Frank Perez, a lawyer listed for Zambada, previously told The Los Angeles Times the suspect was brought to Texas “against his will”.
“I have no comment except to state that he did not surrender voluntarily,” he added.
Newspapers in Mexico report on the arrests. Pic: Reuters
A bloody inter-cartel war erupted in 2008 when another senior Sinaloa leader was detained.
His family members accused El Chapo of orchestrating the arrest with Mexican authorities, triggering violence between two powerful factions of the crime group.
El Chapo pictured in New York in January 2017 shortly after his extradition to the US. Pic: Drug Enforcement Administration/Reuters
Guzman Lopez – who is in his 30s – is one of four sons of El Chapo. His brother Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested last year and extradited to the US.
Rumours on social media had circulated that Ovidio Guzman had been released, but the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said he “remains in custody in the United States.”
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Zambada – who is believed to be in his 70s – appeared in federal court in El Paso on Friday morning and pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, according to court records.
The justice department previously said the charges relate to “heading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks”.
A new indictment was brought against him in New York in February, describing him as the “principal leader of the criminal enterprise responsible for importing enormous quantities of narcotics into the United States”.
El Chapo was sentenced to life imprisonment in a US facility in 2019 for orchestrating a sprawling drug conspiracy linked to murder and chaos spanning over two decades.