MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Justice Department has announced the arrest of notorious Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the offspring of his erstwhile ally, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The arrests took place in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday.
“Two more alleged leaders of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, one of the world’s most dangerous and influential drug trafficking syndicates, have been apprehended,” the department declared in an official statement.
Both Zambada and Guzman Lopez are facing a slew of charges in the U.S., including leading the Cartel’s illicit operations, which encompass the deadly production and distribution of fentanyl, as per the statement.
The news of Guzman Lopez’s arrest was initially broken by Reuters, prior to the Justice Department’s official announcement.
According to two U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters, Zambada and Guzman Lopez were taken into custody immediately after their private plane touched down.
Zambada, a pivotal figure in Mexico’s drug trafficking history, co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo. El Chapo was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is currently serving a life sentence in a high-security prison.
Following El Chapo’s extradition, his criminal empire was assumed by his four sons, collectively known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos. They took control of his portion of the cartel and have since become some of the largest fentanyl suppliers to the United States.
Since El Chapo’s extradition, El Mayo and Los Chapitos have had a strained relationship. The recent arrests of these two high-profile traffickers could potentially incite instability or even violence in Mexico.
In February, U.S. federal prosecutors charged Zambada with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, a drug that the Drug Enforcement Administration identifies as the primary cause of death for Americans aged between 18 and 45.
I agree with the authorities’ decision to detain them.