Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico\u2019s history and co-founded Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo
\n MEXICO
\nMexican drug kingpin Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada and the son of his ex-partner, Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzman, were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for US authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.
\nZambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico\u2019s 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.
\nBoth Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of El Chapo, face multiple charges in the US for funneling huge quantities of drugs to US streets, including fentanyl, which has surged to become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
\nZambada, who is believed to be in his 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, were detained after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area, two US officials told Reuters.
\nGuzman Lopez is one of four sons of El Chapo \u2014 known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos \u2014 who inherited their father\u2019s faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested last year and extradited to the United States.
\nIn recent years, the Sinaloa Cartel has become the biggest target for US authorities, who have accused the crime syndicate of being the biggest supplier of fentanyl to the United States.
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\nZambada and Guzman Lopez face multiple charges in the US \u201cfor heading the Cartel\u2019s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,\u201d US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
\nThe arrest of Guzman Lopez was first reported by Reuters, ahead of the Justice Department statement where it was confirmed they were detained in El Paso.
\nOne worker at the Santa Teresa airport, near El Paso, on Thursday afternoon told Reuters that he saw a Beechcraft King Air land on the runway, where federal agents were already waiting.
\n\u201cTwo individuals got off the plane\u2026 and were calmly taken into custody,\u201d said the man, who declined to share his name out of concern for his safety.
\n\u201cIt seemed like a pretty calm, arranged thing,\u201d he added.
\nThe US authorities had a $15 million reward for Zambada\u2019s capture, while Guzman Lopez had a $5 million bounty on his head.
\nThe Sinaloa cartel traffics drugs to more than 50 countries around the globe and is one of two most powerful organized crime groups in Mexico, according to US authorities. Zambada and El Chapo\u2019s sons belong to two different generations of traffickers, with differing styles.
\nZambada is known for being an \u201cold-school\u201d narco, avoiding the limelight and operating in the shadows. El Chapo\u2019s sons, by contrast, have a reputation for being flashy narcos who courted attention as they ascended the ranks of the cartel.
\nEl Chapo\u2019s sons are also known to be more violent and hot-headed than Zambada, who had a reputation as a shrewd operator.
\nZambada and El Chapo\u2019s sons have had a fractious relationship since their father was extradited in 2017, and the arrests of Zambada and Guzman Lopez may trigger instability or even violence in their heartlands in the northern state of Sinaloa.
\nPrevious arrests of important cartel leaders has triggered violence as power vacuums open, leading to significant infighting within the organizations and between them and their rivals.
\n\u201cThis possibility certainly looms very large,\u201d said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a researcher at Washington\u2019s Brookings Institution who closely monitors Mexican security.
\nTheir arrests were part of a joint operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agencies, HSI said in a statement.
\nUS authorities have over the past year launched fresh indictments against Zambada and Guzman\u2019s sons on new charges in the United States that focus on fentanyl smuggling, as well as the flow of precursor chemicals to the illicit labs operated by their crime syndicate.
\nOver decades, the cartel has set up sophisticated supply chains to move drugs across the globe and to source heavily regulated chemicals to their home base in Sinaloa.
\nEarlier in the day on Thursday, Reuters published an investigation that revealed how fentanyl precursor chemicals are astonishingly easy and cheap to buy online from Chinese sellers that ship the substances door-to-door in North America.
\n\u201cFentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,\u201d Garland added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico\u2019s history and co-founded Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo MEXICO Mexican drug kingpin Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada and the son of his ex-partner, Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzman, were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for US authorities that may also reshape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-420967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n