The leader of the Sinaloa cartel “El Mayo” Zambada was lured onto a plane before his arrest

WASHINGTON (AP) — A powerful leader of a Mexican drug cartel who had evaded authorities for decades was tricked into flying to the United States. where he was arrested next to a son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, according to a US police official familiar with the matter.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada boarded a plane to the United States because he thought he was going somewhere else, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. The official did not provide further details, including who persuaded Zambada to board the plane or where exactly he thought he was going.

Upon their arrival in the El Paso area, Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of the notorious drug lord “El Chapo”, met who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a US prison in 2019 were immediately taken into custody by U.S. authorities, officials said.

Zambada, 76, appeared in federal court in El Paso on Friday morning, where a judge read the charges and advised Zambada of his rights. Zambada, who is being held without bail, has pleaded not guilty to several drug trafficking charges, court records show. His next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Associated Press emailed Frank Perez, an attorney representing Zambada, on Friday for comment. Perez told the Los Angeles Times He said he had no comment on the fact that Zambada was brought to the United States “against his will” and “did not surrender voluntarily.”

Zambada, one of the world’s most powerful drug lords, has been a key target of the U.S. government for years in its attempt to capture the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, which is responsible for smuggling drugs across the border. U.S. authorities had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his capture.

His arrest was a “hit at the heart of the cartel responsible for most of the drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, that are killing Americans from coast to coast,” said Anne Milgram, head of the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Department of Justice will not rest until every single cartel leader, member and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Thursday.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday that Mexico was still waiting for details of the arrests and was not involved in the operation. While he welcomed the arrests, he suggested that others could step in to fill the vacuum. That is why his government has focused on addressing the root causes of drug use and related violence, he said.

Mexican Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez said the plane took off from Hermosillo airport in Mexico with only the pilot. Tracking service FlightAware showed that the plane did not transmit altitude and speed data for about 30 minutes while flying over the mountains of northern Mexico before resuming its course toward the US border.

“The fact is that one person left here and three people arrived there,” she said.

Zambada is charged in a number of US casesincluding New York and California. In February, prosecutors in New York filed new charges against him, calling him “a principal leader of the criminal enterprise responsible for importing enormous quantities of narcotics into the United States.”

Zambada was one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico and was considered the cartel’s strategist. He was more involved in day-to-day operations than his more conspicuous and well-known boss, “El Chapo.”

Zambada is an old-fashioned capo in an era of younger drug lords known for their extravagant lifestyles of club-hopping and brutal tactics like beheading, dismembering and even skinning their rivals. Although Zambada has fought those who have challenged him, he is known for focusing on the business side of the drug trade and avoiding gruesome cartel violence that would draw attention.

In an interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso in April 2010, he admitted that he lived in constant fear of going to prison and would rather consider suicide than be captured.

“I’m terrified of being imprisoned,” Zambada said. “I’d like to imagine that I would kill myself.”

The interview was surprising for a drug lord known for keeping a low profile, but he gave precise instructions about where and when the meeting would take place, and the article gave no clues as to his whereabouts.

Zambada reportedly won the loyalty of locals in his home state of Sinaloa and neighboring Durango through his generosity: he supported local farmers and distributed money and beer in his birthplace of El Alamo.

Although little is known about Zambada’s early life, it is believed that he began as an enforcer in the 1970s. By the early 1990s, he was a major player in the Juarez Cartel, transporting tons of cocaine and marijuana.

Zambada gradually gained the trust of Colombian drug traffickers, and this loyalty helped him gain the upper hand in the world of cartels with their ever-shifting alliances. Eventually he became so powerful that he broke away from the Juarez Cartel, but still maintained close ties with the gang and avoided a turf war. He also developed a partnership with “El Chapo” Guzman that would bring him to the top of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Zambada’s detention follows several important arrests of other members of the Sinaloa cartel, including one of his sons and another son of “El Chapo” Guzmán, Ovidio Guzmán López.

Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested last year and extradited to the United States. He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges Charges against him in September in Chicago. The Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator showed Ovidio Guzmán López was released on Tuesday, but Rodríguez said U.S. authorities informed Mexico that he had not been released, only that his custody had been changed.

In 2021, Zambada’s son pleaded guilty in federal court in San Diego to being a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.

In recent years, Guzman’s sons have led a faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos or “Chapitos,” which is considered the main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. market. Their security chief was arrested by the Mexican authorities in November.

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Verza and Sherman reported from Mexico City.