The leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel have been arrested in El Paso, Texas.
The co-founder of the drug cartel, Ismael Zambada Garcia, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of the cartel’s other co-founder, are now in custody.
Last year, Guzman Lopez was indicted alongside other members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to a press release from the Justice Department, 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.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Sinaloa Cartel is “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced,” the statement added. “The Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable.”
Fentanyl has contributed to a “more than doubling” of overdose deaths among children ages 12 to 17, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
