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Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of notorious drug kingpin “El Chapo,” were arrested Friday on American soil after getting duped by U.S. law enforcement.
The Associated Press reports that Zambada and López boarded a plane they believed to be headed somewhere in Mexico. But the pilot diverted the plane to an airport just over the United States border.
When the plane landed, both men were confronted by law enforcement officers and immediately taken into custody.
Zambada, 76, appeared in federal court in El Paso on Friday morning. He entered a not-guilty plea to several drug trafficking charges.
The United States Department of Justice states that the Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for a significant portion of the fentanyl brought into the U.S. each year.
“The fentanyl crisis in America – fueled in large part by the Sinaloa cartel – threatens our public health, our public safety, and our national security,” said Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in a statement a year ago.
In May, Nestor Isidro Perez Salas (AKA El Nini), an alleged senior leader and lead assassin for the Cartel, was extradited from Mexico to the United States on a plethora of charges.
“Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas was known as the primary enforcer of the Sinaloa Cartel’s ruthless security apparatus,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
“In addition to his alleged role in importing massive quantities of lethal narcotics into the United States, he is accused of leading a group of enforcers who committed brutal acts of violence to maintain control and protect the cartel’s leadership and operations, including the murder of law enforcement officers, a witness and informant, and even a 13-year-old boy.”