US operation to capture Sinaloa cartel leaders had the help of one of the captured men: a son of ‘El Chapo,’ official says

An alleged Mexican drug kingpin suspected of flooding the United States with deadly fentanyl and who evaded authorities for decades is in US custody after he was apparently lured across the border by federal agents with another alleged leader of his cartel who was helping with his capture, according to a US law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

The arrest of two leaders of the Sinaloa cartel in the United States on Thursday was organized by one of the two men arrested, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of infamous cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Guzman Lopez organized his arrest along with that of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 76, who co-founded the cartel with El Chapo, by luring Zambada on a flight to examine a piece of land he thought was in Mexico, an official familiar with the operation told CNN. Instead, the plane landed in El Paso, Texas, where federal agents, including from Homeland Security Investigations, arrested the two cartel bosses. Zambada didn’t know US investigators had exploited a rift in the cartel and Guzman Lopez was helping with Zambada’s capture, the official said. FBI agents arrested both men, in one of the biggest victories for US law enforcement against the cartels. The cartel, one of the world’s most powerful narcotics trafficking organizations, is thought to be responsible for the trafficking of vast amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the US. DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said the arrests strike “at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast.” Experts have told CNN a power struggle between Zambada and El Chapo’s sons, also known as the Chapitos, has existed for some time in the cartel. With Zambada gone, violence inside the cartel and other criminal organizations in Mexico, is set to ramp up.