American media wrote that Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada thought he was going to northern Mexico to inspect real estate, but to his great surprise he arrived in Texas.
Earlier this week, El Mayo, 76, one of the world's most notorious drug lords, Arrested in Texas, USA.
So did Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 38, the son of the infamous “El Chapo”, who is imprisoned for life in the United States.
The two are accused of directing the Sinaloa Cartel's criminal activities, including the production of deadly substances. Fentanyl And engaging in drug trafficking.
Now new details have emerged about Thursday's arrest, which has been widely reported around the world.
According to officials who CNN Reuters reported that his partner, Lopez, tricked Zambada into believing they were flying to northern Mexico to inspect properties.
Instead, the helicopter landed near El Paso, Texas, where U.S. authorities were poised to arrest the drug lords.
“The mayo was the cherry on top,” a source familiar with the case told Reuters, which was the first media outlet to report on the incident on Thursday.
“It was not expected at all,” the source says.
Reuters wrote that the arrest went smoothly.
Zambada's lawyer, Frank Perez, told CNN that his client did not go to the United States voluntarily.
“I don’t usually comment on my criminal cases,” Perez says. “I still want to say that my client did not come to the United States voluntarily.”
El Mayo pleaded not guilty during the first court session.
Lopez is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. His attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, did not comment on the case to CNN.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed the arrests on Thursday, but did not comment on how they happened.
US authorities have been pursuing El Mayo, who founded the Sinaloa Cartel in the late 1980s with the notorious El Chapo, for decades.
According to US authorities, fentanyl use is the most common cause of death among Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
Experts are unsure whether Thursday's arrest will have any significant impact on drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States.
“It’s a historic and symbolic moment, of course. But I’m very skeptical that it will have any consequences for the drug trade,” crime expert Stephen Dudley told CNN.
– El Mayo has already retired from day-to-day operations, and the drug trade is a very different world today than it was when he started. It's more decentralized, he says.
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