From the editor: While my friend Jerry Danache shared with me information via WhatsApp about the arrest of these two men, I was too inept to unload the info and Grandson Jack, my internet guru, does not live with me.
So, I went to the my old faithful source on cartel activity, the legendary "Borderland Beat" for the information about the arrest and capture of two cartel kingpins:
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| Ismael Zambada Garcia "El Mayo" |
During Mexican President AMLO's morning conference, the Secretary of Citizen Security and future Secretary of the Interior, Rosa Icela RodrΓguez released details and a chronology of the events for the arrests in the US of Ismael Zambada Garcia and Joaquin Guzman Lopez.
The official said that agents located in El Paso, Texas, sent the Mexican government two photographs that not only confirmed the capture, but also confirmed that the identities of "El Mayo" and JoaquΓn GuzmΓ‘n LΓ³pez.
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| "El Mayo" in 2010 |
The images sent by US authorities were sent separately, but were put together to create a chronology of the arrest. The arrest of El Mayo and El Chapo's son occurred at 4:14 p.m. through the United States Embassy, so it was not until 6:00 p.m. that the first images of both were sent.
Their arrests were part of a joint operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agencies, HSI said in a statement.
U.S. authorities have over the past year launched fresh indictments against Zambada and Guzman's sons on new charges in the United States that focus on fentanyl smuggling, as well as the flow of precursor chemicals to the illicit labs operated by their crime syndicate
Arrest Details
One worker at the Santa Teresa airport, near El Paso, on Thursday afternoon told Reuters that he saw a Beechcraft King Air land on the runway, where federal agents were already waiting.
"Two individuals got off the plane… and were calmly taken into custody," said the man, who declined to share his name out of concern for his safety. "It seemed like a pretty calm, arranged thing," he added.
This witness statement could discredit however claims made by the Wall Street Journal that "El Mayo" was tricked into flying to the US and being arrested. Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was arrested by U.S. agents Thursday after a high-ranking Sinaloa cartel member tricked him into flying to Texas, Mexican and U.S. officials said. JoaquΓn GuzmΓ‘n LΓ³pez, the son of imprisoned drug lord JoaquΓn “El Chapo” GuzmΓ‘n, was on the same plane and also arrested upon landing, a Homeland Security Investigations official said.
Frank Perez, a lawyer listed for Zambada, did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment Friday. Perez told The Los Angeles Times that Zambada was brought to the U.S. “against his will.”
“I have no comment except to state that he did not surrender voluntarily,” Perez said.
The reports of a Beechcraft King Air match the videos taken of the scene. However, looking at Flight Tracker records for the Santa Teresa airport that day, only a single flight took place from Mexico, the tail number of that flight, from Sonora, is N8454Z.
That registration number is actually to an old Cessna 205 airplane. It is possible that the tail numbers were cloned on the plane either by the authorities, or cartel members as a way to mask their arrivals.
According to the morning briefing in Mexico, manager Armando Ibadrola presented a flight plan so that the aircraft with registration number N84554Z could schedule its departure at 8:00 AM in the morning. Both the manager and the pilot/owner of the plane presented their passports and the information was registered with immigration.
The news caused controversy regarding the flight, since according to Rosa Icela, there is only a record of one passenger and one pilot, that is, the process of how it left until its arrival in Texas is being investigated, since officially one took off and three people arrived.
“The pilot is not registered as an authority, nor is he registered as a visitor; he is only listed as a pilot.”
Rosa Icela also announced that Ovidio GuzmΓ‘n LΓ³pez, son of El Chapo GuzmΓ‘n, was not released by the United States authorities as had been first reported by Borderland Beat.
"No, he was not released, there is a change in the precautionary measure," said the head of the SSPC during the press conference on Friday.
“And the question is, did we participate in this arrest? No, the Mexican government did not participate in this arrest or delivery, this is not the case and we will continue to collaborate with the United States government,” AMLO said.
President Joe Biden attributed the arrests to the Department of Justice in a brief statement.
"Yesterday, the Department of Justice arrested Zambada GarcΓa and GuzmΓ‘n LΓ³pez, two of the most notorious leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the deadliest enterprises in the world,” Biden said in a brief written statement released by the White House.
In a statement, US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the Sinaloa cartel "pioneered the manufacture of fentanyl and has for years trafficked it into our country, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans and devastating countless communities".
FBI director Chris Wray said the arrests are "an example of the FBI's and our partners' commitment to dismantling violent transnational criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel," he said.
Ismael Zambada-Garcia aka Mayo, has been arraigned this morning in the Western District of Texas US Federal Court. He entered a Not Guilty plea.
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