The strange saga of how two Mexican drug lords were detained after landing in a plane in the United States in July just got stranger.
The Mexican government now says it is bringing charges against JoaquÃn Guzmán López, but not because he was a leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel founded by his father, JoaquÃn El Chapo Guzmán.
Instead, Mexican prosecutors are bringing charges against the younger Guzmán for apparently kidnapping Ismael El Mayo Zambada “ an older drug boss from a rival faction of the cartel “ forcing him onto the plane and flying to an airport near El Paso, Texas.
The younger Guzmán apparently intended to turn himself in to U.S. authorities, but may have brought Zambada along as a prize to sweeten any plea deal.
Federal prosecutors issued a statement saying an arrest warrant has been prepared against the younger Guzmán for kidnapping.
But it also cited another charge under an article of Mexicos criminal code that defines what he did as treason. That section of the law says treason is committed by those who illegally abduct a person in Mexico in order to hand them over to authorities of another country. (AP, excluding headline)
FILE PHOTO: A plane believed to have carried Mexican drug lord Ismael El Mayo Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez is seen on the tarmac of the Dona Ana County private airport, in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, July 25, 2024
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