The son of former Sinaloa drug cartel leader El Chapo pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a series of charges related to one of the world's largest illegal drug operations, U.S. prosecutors said.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez was arrested in a scheme allegedly orchestrated by Washington without involving Mexico, where he was arrested in Texas last Thursday (7/25).
The judge in the case denied bail and remanded him in custody, ordering a case management hearing for Sept. 30, the assistant U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement to AFP.
Many details of the operation, which also saw the capture of one of the cartel's founders, Ismael Zambada Garcia, known as “El Mayo” in the US, remain unclear.
US media quoted law enforcement sources as saying that Zambada was unknowingly lured across the Mexican border by Guzman Lopez, one of El Chapo's four sons.
According to a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) report released in May, El Chapo's children were involved in an “internal dispute” against Zambada, their father's former partner.
Guzman Lopez was indicted by a federal grand jury on drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons charges, according to court documents previously released by prosecutors.
CNN reported that Guzman Lopez's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, told reporters that his client faces the death penalty in the case. Lichtman did not respond to a request for comment. AFP to provide comments.
“There was no agreement between Joaquin Guzman and the government. Period,” Lichtman told reporters in Chicago.
Guzman Lopez, in his 30s, is among El Chapo's sons collectively known as Los Chapitos, or “Little Chapos.”
El Chapo was convicted of drug charges in New York in 2019 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison.
DEA chief Anne Milgram said Zambada's arrest “strikes at the heart of the cartel responsible for much of the narcotics, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, that kill Americans from the East Coast to the West Coast.” (ns/uh)
