Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the son of his former partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Lopez, were arrested in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, the US Justice Department said.
“The Justice Department has taken into custody two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organisations in the world,” the department said in a statement.
Mr Zambada and Mr Guzman Lopez, the son of El Chapo, face multiple charges in the US “for heading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks”, the statement said.
Two US officials told Reuters that Mr Zambada and Mr Guzman Lopez were detained after landing in a private plane.
Mr Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico’s history and co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.
This is a breaking story. More to follow.