US operation to capture the Sinaloa cartel leaders had inside help, 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.

[Breaking news update, published at 9:24 a.m. ET] The US operation to capture the Sinaloa cartel leaders had the inside help of one of Chapo Guzman’s sons, according to US law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. Ismael Zambada Garcia, known as “El Mayo,” and who the US says runs a Sinaloa faction that has fueled the fentanyl trafficking into the US, boarded a plane with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, believing they were inspecting property in Mexico near the US border. Zambada didn’t know that US investigators had exploited a rift in the Sinaloa cartel and that Guzman’s son was helping with Zambada’s capture, the official said. The plane landed near El Paso, Texas, and FBI agents arrested both men, in one of the biggest victories for US law enforcement against the cartels. [Original story, published at 9:04 a.m. ET]