2024-07-27 22:59:18
I. Zimbada was one of the most important targets of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, so the man tried to be as low-profile as possible.
He was “unique in that he spent his entire adult life as a major international drug trafficker, but never spent a single day in prison,” the US State Department said in 2021.
76-year-old I. Zambada founded a criminal organization together with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is currently in prison in the United States.
Zambada was arrested on Thursday together with his son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez.
How did the arrest happen?
After a months-long operation by Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel lured Mr. Zambada onto the plane, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Mexican and U.S. officials.
It turns out that he was betrayed by someone he knows well. Authorities said that JG Lopez lured I. Zambada into a private plane under “false pretenses,” according to the New York Times.
Zambada thought the plane was going to southern Mexico to check out secret airfields, but instead flew north and landed in El Paso, Fox News correspondent Bryan Llen said, citing law enforcement sources.
JG Lopez turned himself in to US authorities and sued Zambada because he “blamed Mayo (Zambada) for his father’s detention,” Llen added.
The two men run “one of the most brutal and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a written statement late Thursday.
Fentanilis
In February, U.S. prosecutors charged Zambada with conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, a drug stronger than heroin that has contributed to the U.S. opioid crisis.
The U.S. government says fentanyl is often made from products purchased in China and then smuggled across the border from Mexico by drug traffickers, particularly the Sinaloa cartel.
The USA offered 15 million dollars (13.8 million euros) reward for information leading to the arrest of I. Zambada, accusing him of trafficking in cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Department of Justice will not stop until every cartel leader, member and accomplice responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Garland added.
Fentanyl is the leading cause of death in Americans aged 18-45, US authorities have previously noted. According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 107,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2023. people. Fentanyl accounted for about 70 percent. cases.
What is known about I. Zimbado’s life?
I. Zambada is probably the biggest drug lord in the world and certainly the most influential in America. He had been on the run from authorities for decades, so his arrest in Mexico came as a shock.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) offered up to $15 million. dollars (13.8 million euros) reward for the arrest of I. Zambada.
During 2019 During Mr. Guzman’s trial, his lawyers accused Mr. Zambada of bribing “the entire” Mexican government in exchange for allowing him to live openly without fear of prosecution.
“Indeed [J. Guzmanas] had no control over anything, Mr. Guzman’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, told jurors. – This was done by I. Zambada”, he said.
Although Mr. Guzmán was the public face of the organization and the more well-known of the two men, many believed that the leader was actually El Mayo (I. Zambada – author).
According to the US State Department, Mr Zambada also owns several legitimate businesses in Mexico, including “a large dairy company, a bus line and a hotel”, as well as real estate.
In addition to the fentanyl charges, he is also facing drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, money laundering and organized crime charges in the US.
May. I. Zambada’s nephew, Eliseo Imperial Castro, who was known as “Cheyo Antrax”, was killed in an ambush in Mexico. He was also wanted by US authorities.
The Sinaloa cartel “pioneered the production of fentanyl and trafficked it in our country for years, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans and devastating countless communities,” US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayork said in a statement.
Zambada was one of the founders of the Sinaloa cartel after the collapse of the Guadalajara cartel in the late 1980s.
He was not only ruthless, but also innovative, creating and maintaining some of the first connections with the Colombian cartels to flood the United States with cocaine and heroin. And recently, also with fentanyl.
His leadership of the criminal empire has persisted through the succession of presidents of Mexico and the United States. Even through repeated anti-narcotics operations by successive governments and constant efforts to oust him by his enemies from other drug-trafficking organizations, he remained untouched.
This is not an easy task in the brutal, dangerous and treacherous criminal world, where he has acted as an invincible kingpin for many years.
But that extraordinary resilience appears to have ended in El Paso, Texas, a city ravaged by an influx of the synthetic opioid fentanyl (much of which was smuggled in by his organization).
FBI Director Chris Wray described the arrests as “an example of the commitment of the FBI and our partners to dismantle violent transnational criminal organizations like the Sinaloa cartel.”
As more information emerges, the administration of US President Joe Biden will no doubt declare Zambada’s arrest one of the DEA’s most significant operations in recent years.
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2024-07-27 22:59:18