Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada says he was taken towards his will to US amid conflicting accounts of arrest final month.
The co-founder of the Sinaloa drug cartel says he was kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into United States custody towards his will, within the newest chapter of a dramatic case that has sparked international consideration.
“I used to be ambushed,” Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada mentioned in a press release launched by way of his lawyer on Saturday that he mentioned aimed to clear up the rumours and misinformation surrounding his seize final month.
US authorities have mentioned that Zambada was detained on July 25 together with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of many sons of one other co-founder of the cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
They had been arrested after touchdown in El Paso, Texas, on a personal aircraft.
On Friday, Zambada’s lawyer mentioned Guzman Lopez and 6 males in navy uniforms “forcibly kidnapped” his consumer close to the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan and flew him to the US towards his will.
However the Guzman household lawyer has denied {that a} kidnapping came about, as a substitute calling it a voluntary give up after prolonged negotiations.
In his assertion on Saturday, Zambada mentioned he felt it was essential that the reality come out about his arrest, citing what he mentioned had been “false tales” about his “abduction”.
He defined that Guzman Lopez had invited him to a gathering at a ranch simply outdoors of Culiacan on July 25. There, he described how he greeted a number of individuals earlier than recognizing Guzman Lopez, whom he mentioned he has identified “since he was a younger boy”.
“He gestured for me to comply with him,” Zambada mentioned in his assertion, including that, “trusting” these concerned, he adopted “with out hesitation”.
“I used to be led into one other room which was darkish. As quickly as I set foot inside that room, I used to be ambushed,” Zambada continued.
He mentioned a bunch of males then assaulted him, knocked him to the bottom and positioned a dark-coloured hood over his head.
“They tied me up and handcuffed me, then pressured me into the mattress of a pick-up truck.”
Zambada mentioned he suffered “important accidents” to his again, knee and wrists through the incident and was later pushed to a close-by touchdown strip and “pressured onto a personal aircraft”.
On the aircraft, he mentioned Guzman Lopez eliminated his hood and “certain” him with zip ties to the seat. “Nobody else was aboard the aircraft besides Joaquin, the pilot, and myself.”
Zambada mentioned they then flew on to El Paso, the place US federal brokers took him into custody on the tarmac.
Zambada’s account of what occurred comes a day after the US ambassador to Mexico acknowledged that the cartel chief was dropped at the nation towards his will.
“This was an operation between cartels, the place one turned the opposite one in,” Ken Salazar mentioned on Friday, including that no American sources had been concerned in El Mayo being dropped at the US.
The American embassy additionally mentioned no flight plan had been shared with US authorities and the pilot was neither a US citizen and nor had he been employed by the US authorities.
Zambada was regarded as extra concerned within the day-to-day operations of the Sinaloa drug cartel than El Chapo, who was sentenced to life in jail by a US courtroom in 2019.
Final week, Zambada appeared in a Texas courtroom whereas in a wheelchair. He pleaded not responsible to costs of drug trafficking, cash laundering and conspiracy to commit homicide.
Guzman Lopez, El Chapo’s son, additionally pleaded not responsible to drug trafficking and different costs in a US courtroom in late July.
Amid fears of spiralling violence following the arrests, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took the bizarre step of issuing a public attraction to drug cartels to not struggle one another.
Greater than 450,000 individuals have been murdered in drug-related violence throughout Mexico because the authorities of then-President Felipe Calderon launched a navy offensive towards drug gangs in 2006.
