El Chapo’s son Joaquín Guzmán has brought his father’s former partner to US arrest

The son of the notorious cartel boss “El Chapo”, Joaquín Guzmán Lopez, was arrested on US soil last week – but he brought the American authorities a gift that exceeded even their wildest expectations.

Guzmán Lopez reportedly tricked his father’s former partner, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the head of the Sinaloa cartel, into boarding a plane in Mexico on Thursday that eventually took them both to U.S. soil, where they were taken into custody by federal authorities.

The cartel’s scion is believed to have hatched the plan with U.S. authorities, an official familiar with the operation told CNN. That official claimed that Zambada, 76, was lured onto the plane with the promise that he and Guzmán, 38, would look at Mexican real estate.

It remains unclear why Guzmán Lopez betrayed Zambada, but Reuters reports that he likely wanted a better deal for himself and his brother Ovidio, who was arrested in Mexico last year and extradited to the United States.

The plane took off from Hermosillo in the Mexican border state of Sonora on Thursday and then flew about 325 miles north to El Paso, Texas, where the Department of Homeland Security was waiting for the men.

Both cartel leaders face long prison sentences in the US, but Guzmán had intended to turn himself in from the start. Zambada, on the other hand, had no such intentions, his lawyer argued on Friday.

Zambada’s lawyer claimed in a Texas court that his client was “forcibly abducted” in Mexico and brought to the United States against his will. He said Guzmán did not trick his client but forced him to board the plane to Texas.

Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez

“He was attacked by six men in military uniforms and Joaquín, thrown to the ground and handcuffed,” said lawyer Frank Perez in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “His legs were tied and a black bag was placed over his head. He was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to a runway. There he was dragged onto a plane, his legs were tied to the seat by Joaquín and taken to the United States against his will.”

Perez added that the only people on board the plane were “the pilot, Joaquín and my client.”

Both Zambada and Guzmán are currently facing “multiple charges” related to drug trafficking in Sinaloa, “including the production of the deadly fentanyl,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement last week.

Guzmán is facing federal charges in Chicago and Washington for drug trafficking and his leadership role in the Sinaloa cartel. His father, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, headed the cartel before he himself was arrested and extradited to the United States.

After the elder Guzmán was arrested, Zambada took over the powerful cartel. The younger Guzmán was most recently the leader of the Los Chapitos cartel faction.

Anonymous law enforcement sources “familiar with the situation” and familiar with the Just about Guzmán’s operation called the stunt “epic.”

“Epic, once-in-a-lifetime adventure,” a source told the Just“The old man was tricked.”

The Just He added: “It is unclear to what extent US authorities were involved in arranging the flight carrying the two men – or, if so, in the alleged hijacking.”

Regardless of how it came about, US authorities have taken a victory lap with the arrest of one of the world’s most notorious drug traffickers, on whose head the US government had placed a whopping $15 million bounty. Joe Biden himself said the arrest would “save American lives”.

Unlike El Chapo, who was imprisoned twice and escaped twice before being extradited to the United States in 2014 to serve a life sentence, Zambada has never spent a single day behind bars.