Two prominent figures in Mexico's drug trade, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who is the son of his former partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were arrested Thursday by U.S. law enforcement authorities in El Paso, Texas.
The arrests marked one of the biggest victories by U.S. law enforcement against cartels, but were organized by one of two men who were arrested Thursday.
Joaquin, 38, one of El Chapo's sons, was behind the arranged arrest of him and El Mayo earlier this week.
El Mayo, 76, and El Chapo, 67, are co-founders of the Sinaloa cartel, which traffics drugs to more than 50 countries around the world and is one of the two most powerful organized crime groups in Mexico, according to U.S. authorities.
El Chapo is serving a life sentence in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 of charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons offenses.
How did El Mayo's arrest take place?
U.S. security forces took advantage of a rift in the cartel and enlisted help in the arrest of Joaquín and El Mayo.
Joaquin is one of El Chapo's four sons, known as Los Chapitos, who inherited their father's faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested last year and extradited to the United States.
Joaquin betrayed El Mayo by luring him onto a flight to survey land he believed was in Mexico, according to an official familiar with the operation. CNN reported.
Instead, the plane landed near El Paso, Texas, where they were arrested by US law enforcement agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). As reported by CBS News.
“Both men were arrested on the runway. The flight and subsequent landing took place very quickly and quietly, with no incidents once the men had exited the plane,” a senior law enforcement official confirmed to AFP. CBS News.
Furthermore, El Mayo, who usually keeps a low profile, was finally arrested after ruling the deadly criminal organization for four decades.
