MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada has been ordered detained without bond in the United States, court records show, after he and a son of another drug lord were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas.
Zambada is scheduled to be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Berton next Wednesday, the records showed. His lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Both Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, face multiple charges in the U.S. for funneling huge quantities of fentanyl and other drugs to U.S. streets.
Their detentions were a dramatic achievement for U.S. law enforcement that could also shake up the Mexican drug landscape.
Mexican Security Minister Rosa Rodriguez said on Friday that his government was informed of the detentions by the U.S. government, but that Mexican authorities did not participate in the operation.
Zambada, who is believed to be in his 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, were detained after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area.
Zambada co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen, Ana Isabel Martinez and Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Frances Kerry and Mark Heinrich)
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