“El Mayo” Arrest: The US knew he was on the plane two hours before

U.S. agents didn’t know until two hours before he got off the plane that he had assured the Mexican government that “El Mayo,” the co-founder and leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was on the plane. Monday, citing a statement from the United States.

• Read more: Sinaloa Cartel Leader Arrested: Mexico President Asks US for “Full Report”

• Read more: Two leaders of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel have been arrested by US authorities

The 76-year-old “El Mayo” was arrested on Thursday in the company of Joaquin Guzmán Lopez, one of the sons of the cartel’s notorious leader “El Chapo”, when their private plane landed in Texas on the US border. with Mexico.

The arrested agents, who did not pre-target the interception of the Zambada flight, for which the United States paid $15 million, did not participate in the operation, according to a report submitted by the United States at the request of Mexico. .

The “El Mayo” was reported to have been on the plane two hours before it landed in Santa Teresa, near El Paso, according to a document read to reporters on Monday by Mexican Defense Secretary Rosa Isela Rodriguez.

US authorities arrested the passengers as they disembarked and later confirmed they were Ismail Zambada Garcia, who co-founded the Sinaloa cartel with “El Chapo” in the 1980s.

However, as soon as their arrest was announced, the American press reported a particularly daring incursion.

Ms. A statement issued by Rodriguez said.

After the capture of the two men, Ovidio Guzmán, another of El Chapo’s sons imprisoned in the United States, had become a protected witness, the US press pointed out.

US media, based on judicial evidence, say “El Mayo” was betrayed by Guzmán López, who convinced him to board a flight to northern Mexico “under false pretenses”, but he eventually landed in the US.

According to the DEA, the U.S. federal anti-narcotics agency “Los Chapitos,” known as El Chapo’s sons, is leading an “internal war” against the “unhealthy” and emaciated El Mayo. Power within the criminal organization.