Israel ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, one of the two leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel arrested last night in El Paso (Texas), has pleaded not guilty this Friday to the drug trafficking charges against him and has assured that he did not voluntarily surrender to the United States.
Zambada’s lawyer, Frank Perez, has assured the ‘Los Angeles Times’ that his client ended up in the United States “against his will” after security sources informed the Fox News network that the other person arrested during the operation, Joaquín Guzmán, did agree with the North American authorities on an agreement to surrender and that he deceived Zambada to facilitate the negotiation.
Zambada, 76, faces multiple federal charges for trafficking tons of cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and other drugs across the border.
Mexico’s Secretary of Public Security, Rosa Icela Rodriguez, reported on Friday that she has asked the United States to clarify whether the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel were captured or, on the contrary, turned themselves in this past morning by the authorities in Texas.
Rodriguez explained on Friday that the Mexican government “had nothing to do” with the arrest of Zambada and Guzman, son of the ‘capo of capos’ Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, in the operation in El Paso, although she did indicate that the US Embassy in Mexico kept the authorities permanently informed about what happened.
