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Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the alleged boss of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, was arrested by authorities in Texas on Thursday, the US Justice Department said.
Zambada, believed to be in his 70s, allegedly ran the cartel’s smuggling operations for decades while keeping a low profile. The powerful Sinaloa cartel specialises in illegal trafficking of fentanyl among others drugs, and money laundering.
Zambada was arrested alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of his ex-partner Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, officials said. 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 US in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.
Zambada was tricked into flying to Texas by a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel, according to officials. Zambada and López, who is likely in his 30s, were detained after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area, according to two US officials.
Witnesses at the Santa Teresa airport said they saw the “pretty calm, arranged thing” on the runway where federal agents were waiting for the duo to emerge from their Beechcraft King Air.
"Two individuals got off the plane… and were calmly taken into custody," said the worker on the condition of anonymity.
Zambada carried a bounty of up to $15m on any information that could help in his capture. The duo are facing multiple charges “for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks”.
“Fentanyl 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,” said attorney general Merrick Garland.
Earlier this year, Zambada was charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl by the Eastern District of New York. He is described as continuing to lead “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organisations in the world” by the prosecutors.
US authorities have accused the Sinaloa Cartel of being the biggest supplier of fentanyl in the country. Zambada is also one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico and was seen as the strategist of his cartel, taking part in day-to-day operations.
The recluse leader, seen as a shrewd operator, in an interview in 2010 had said he would rather kill himself than go to prison and that the fear of imprisonment loomed over him.
“I’m terrified of being incarcerated,” Zambada said. “I’d like to think that, yes, I would kill myself,” he told the Mexican magazine Proceso. He largely focused on the illegal business of trafficking and avoided brutal cartel violence like beheading, dismembering and skinning rivals that could draw attention.
One of his sons pleaded guilty in 2021 to being a leader in the cartel to a federal court in San Diego. El Chapo, seen as more violent and flamboyant than Zambada, led a faction which was one of the main exporters of fentanyl to the US market and the cartel was known as the little Chapos or “Chapitos”.
Their security head was held last year in November by Mexican officials. López had a $5m bounty on his head.