Mexican drug lord’s lawyer says his client was ‘forcibly kidnapped’ by El Chapo’s son

By Rafael Romo, CNN

(CNN) — The lawyer for Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, alleged co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, says his client “neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government” but was kidnapped.

U.S. law enforcement officials previously told CNN that Joaquín Guzmán López tricked Zambada into arranging their arrests by convincing him they were flying to northern Mexico to view properties. Instead, officials said, their small private plane landed north of the border near El Paso, Texas, where U.S. authorities were waiting on the tarmac.

Zambada’s attorney has vehemently denied any previous suggestions by Mexican officials that his client had voluntarily surrendered or come to the United States as part of a plea deal.

In a telephone interview and a statement sent to CNN on Sunday, Frank Pérez said Zambada, 76, was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the other co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, who was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison.

“Joaquín Guzmán López forcibly kidnapped my client. He was attacked, thrown to the ground and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquín. His legs were tied and a black bag was placed over his head,” Pérez said in a statement.

“He was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to the runway. There, he was forced onto the plane, Joaquin tied his legs to the seat, and then brought to the U.S. against his will. The only people on the plane were the pilot, Joaquin, and my client,” Pérez added.

Zambada is one of the most elusive figures in the criminal world. He was able to lead the Sinaloa cartel for decades and has never seen a prison cell. Mike Vigil, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who served with the agency for 31 years, described the alleged Mexican drug lord as “smart.”

“Mayo Zambada, before Thursday and over 50 years of involvement in drug trafficking, had never been caught, had never served a sentence, so he has a tremendous amount of respect even among his rivals,” Vigil said.

Mexico’s National Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez said Friday that her government was not involved in any operation to apprehend alleged Mexican drug lords, but clarified that the Mexican government intends to “continue to cooperate with the United States government as we have done so far.”

“You ask if (they) surrendered or if they were captured. That’s part of the investigation and part of the information we’re waiting for from the United States government,” Rodríguez told Mexican media, with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at her side.

President López Obrador said that whether Zambada and Guzmán turned themselves in or were captured, the fact that they are now in custody is an important step forward in the fight against drug trafficking.

“I think it’s a sign that we (Mexico and the United States) are working together, even if in this particular case neither the Mexican army nor the navy were involved, but the fact that he (Zambada) made the decision to surrender or leave, risking going to the United States and being captured there, marks an important step forward in the fight against drug trafficking,” the Mexican president said.

CNN learned Saturday that any action taken by the United States to arrest Zambada and Guzmán López has sparked an angry response from Mexican government officials, who are demanding explanations from senior American law enforcement officials about exactly what happened, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said.

The Mexican government is “absolutely furious,” the source said, noting that officials in Mexico were not informed in advance of the planned arrests.

CNN has reached out to Mexican authorities for comment on the kidnapping allegations made by Zambada’s lawyer.

CNN reached out to Guzmán López’s lawyer on Sunday about the allegations but did not receive a response.

Zambada entered a not guilty plea to all charges in U.S. District Court in El Paso on Friday and is scheduled to appear in person in the same courthouse for a status hearing at 11 a.m. local time (1 p.m. ET) on Aug. 1, according to Perez’s statement and court documents filed by him.

The arrests of Zambada and Guzmán López mark a major step in a decades-long effort to capture and prosecute the alleged cartel leaders. And the details released so far about what led to their arrests offer a glimpse into the inner workings of what authorities describe as one of the world’s most notorious and nefarious criminal enterprises.