Powerful Mexican drug lord arrested in the USA

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, was taken into custody together with a son of his former partner Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, as announced by US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday (local time). According to Mexican media reports, Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López voluntarily surrendered to the authorities.

The US State Department had offered a reward of up to 15 million US dollars (13.8 million euros) for information that could lead to the arrest of 76-year-old Zambada. Zambada is facing several charges in the USA, including conspiracy to manufacture cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, murder and money laundering.

"El Mayo and Guzmán López join a growing list of leaders and associates of the Sinaloa cartel who are being held accountable by the Department of Justice in the United States," Garland said.

Another son of "El Chapo", Ovidio Guzmán, was extradited from Mexico to the USA in September. The leader of the Sinaloa cartel himself was sentenced to life imprisonment in the USA in 2019. Joaquín Guzmán had previously made two spectacular prison escapes in Mexico before he was finally arrested.