Son of El Chapo pleads not guilty to drug trafficking as Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada’s lawyer makes kidnap claims

Sophia Tareen and Luc Cohen
AP
The son of notorious drug kingpin El Chapo has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking in a US court (AP PHOTO)
The son of notorious drug kingpin El Chapo has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking in a US court (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP

Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of notorious drug kingpin El Chapo has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges, days after an astonishing capture in the US.

Guzmán López, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, stood with feet shackled as Federal prosecutors in Chicago detailed a five-count indictment that also includes money laundering, conspiracy and weapons charges.

He declined a Spanish interpreter and answered most of US District Judge Sharon Coleman’s questions designed to assess his health and determine whether he understood the proceedings with a simple, “Yes, your honour”.

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Guzmán López and Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel were arrested by US authorities in the El Paso, Texas area last week, according to the Justice Department.

Both men, who face multiple charges in the US, oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence”, according to the FBI.

Zambada has eluded US authorities for years.

The not-guilty plea comes as Zambada’s lawyer made sensational claims that El Mayo was “forcibly kidnapped” by Guzmán López, who brought him to the US where they were both detained.

Frank Perez claimed Guzman López and six men in military uniforms ambushed Zambada near Culiacan in Mexico’s Sinaloa state, forced him on to a plane and brought him to the United States against his will.

Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug charges on Friday in an El Paso, Texas, Federal court.

“Joaquin Guzman Lopez forcibly kidnapped my client,” Perez said in a statement. Perez said the incident caused some back and leg issues for Zambada, who was in a wheelchair during his initial court appearance in El Paso.

On Saturday, Reuters reported that Guzman Lopez - who planned to give himself up to authorities - duped Zambada into boarding a plane by telling him they were flying to see real estate in northern Mexico, according to two current and one former US officials.

Instead, the plane landed at a small municipal airport near El Paso, where Federal agents took Zambada, who is in his late 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is about 38, into custody.

The operation was a coup for US authorities that may reshape the Mexican criminal landscape. Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexican history, but he and El Chapo’s sons have had a fractious relationship since their father was extradited to the United States in 2017.

Asked about Perez’s assertion, Guzman Lopez’s defence lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said: “I’ve got no comment other than to note that Mr Zambada is free to employ any defence he’d like against the charges he faces.”

Zambalda was thought to be more involved in the day-to-day operations of the cartel than his better-known and flashier boss, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in prison in the US in 2019 and is the father of Guzmán López.

In recent years, Guzmán’s sons have led a faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos, or ‘Chapitos’, that has been identified as a main exporter of fentanyl to the US market.

Last year, US prosecutors unsealed sprawling indictments against more than two dozen members of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzmán López and his brothers, in a fentanyl-trafficking investigation.

At Tuesday’s brief hearing, security was tight, with mobile phones, laptops and other electronics barred from the courtroom.

Guzmán López stood leaning into the microphone to answer the judge, often with his arms folded behind him.

Guzmán López remained jailed in Chicago and is due back in court on September 30.

Zambada is due back in court later this week.

The men’s mysterious capture fueled theories about how Federal authorities pulled it off and prompted Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to take the unusual step of issuing a public appeal to drug cartels not to fight each other.

The US Government had offered a reward of up to $US15 million ($A23 million) for information leading to Zambada’s arrest.

— With Reuters

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