Two high-ranking members of the Mexican drug cartel Sinaloa, including its co-founder Ismael Zambada Garcia, were arrested in Texas, the US Department of Justice said.
"Ismael Zambada Garcia, or 'El Mayo', a co-founder of the cartel, and Joaquin Guzmán López, the son of its other co-founder, were arrested today in El Paso, Texas," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. He called the cartel "one of the most violent and powerful drug-trafficking organizations in the world," AFP reported.
The pair face "multiple charges in the United States for directing the cartel's criminal operations, including its networks for the production and trafficking of the deadly fentanyl," Garland said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there will be more than 107,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2023. About 70% of them are due to fentanyl.
The US government claims that fentanyl is often manufactured from products originating in China and then smuggled across the border from Mexico by drug traffickers, particularly the Sinaloa cartel. | BGNES
