Sinaloa cartel boss Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and El Chapo’s son Joaquin Guzman Lopez arrested in Texas

The Sinaloa cartel boss and El Chapo’s son, who play a huge role in the illicit drug trade on our streets, are now in custody.

The Mexican drug lords who control Australia’s ice market have been arrested by the FBI in Texas.

Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 76, and El Chapo’s son Joaquin Guzman Lopez have been taken into custody.

The arrests were a major blow for the Sinaloa cartel, which has a stranglehold on Australia’s illicit drug market in partnership with the Hells Angels bikie gang.

The Hells Angels, run by fugitive offshore bikie Angelo Pandeli, have become dominant players following the arrests of Comanchero leader Hakan Ayik in Turkey in November last year.

Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada.

Sinaloa cartel leader El Chapo’s son Joaquin Guzman Lopez. Picture: Supplied

US Attorney-General Merrick B Garland announced the arrests of the Mexican bosses on Friday Australian time.

“The Justice Department has taken into custody two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organisations in the world,” he said in a statement.

“Ismael Zambada Garcia, or ‘El Mayo,’ co-founder of the cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of its other co-founder, were arrested today in El Paso, Texas.”

“Both men are facing multiple charges in the United States for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.”

Zambada, who is old enough to qualify for the pension in Australia, founded the bloodthirsty cartel alongside El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquin Guzman, in 1987.

El Chapo has been serving a 30 year sentence in a two metre by two metre jail cell following a landmark court case in New York in 2019.

But Zambada remained at the top until this week’s arrest, which followed a strategic tightening on his operations.

A narco tunnel on the Mexican border in Tijuana Picture: Jason Edwards

Guzman Lopez was alleged to have followed in his father’s footsteps at the pinnacle of the cartel which has been accused of being behind violent murders, political assassinations and drug running.

The previously powerful pair had flown into the United States, suggesting they may have cut a deal with authorities.

There has been a violent war between the Sinaloa and CJNG cartels in recent years, with the men potentially at greater risk if they were arrested and jailed in Mexico.

The shock arrests have created a power vacuum as their likely lieutenants were expected to battle for control of the cartel that has a revenue estimated to be as much as $39 billion each year.

The Sinaloa cartel has become a pervasive presence in Australia’s organised crime landscape.

A 20-year-old man from Sydney’s northern beaches was arrested in Operation Clover in July for allegedly taking possession of 21kg of ice supplied by the Sinaloa cartel.

Mexico's special operations forces doing training exercises. Picture: Jason Edwards

The cartel sends some of its mid-level operatives to Australia to receive drug shipments here and handle the transfer of millions of dollars back to Mexico.

Ice made in Mexico can be purchased for $1000 wholesale in Mexico and then sold on Australian streets for $200,000.

An investigative series, Narcos: On the frontline, last year revealed how the Sinaloa cartel was increasingly targeting Australia with ice, diverting shipments from its traditional US market because higher profits could be made here.

And a new podcast, Cocaine Inc., last month revealed how Hells Angels figures were now at the top of Australia’s illicit drug trade.

American politicians have been outraged at the Sinaloa cartel’s control of the fentanyl market, which killed more than 100,000 people there in 2023.

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Originally published as Sinaloa cartel boss Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and El Chapo’s son Joaquin Guzman Lopez arrested in Texas