{"id":23003,"date":"2025-02-12T16:08:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T16:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/pilot-suspected-of-working-for-mexican-drug-cartel-arrested\/"},"modified":"2025-02-12T16:08:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T16:08:25","slug":"pilot-suspected-of-working-for-mexican-drug-cartel-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/pilot-suspected-of-working-for-mexican-drug-cartel-arrested\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot suspected of working for Mexican drug cartel arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Vanessa Buschschl\u00fcter<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Twitter\/@OHarfuchTwitter\/@OHarfuch<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A photo of “El Jando” was released after his arrest by Mexican security forces<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Security forces in Mexico have arrested a pilot they suspect of working for Los Chapitos, the Mexican cartel run by sons of the jailed drug lord Joaqu\u00edn ‘”El Chapo” Guzm\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

The pilot, known by the alias of “El Jando”, was detained in the northern city of Culiac\u00e1n, the stronghold of Los Chapitos, in an operation in which one soldier was shot dead. <\/p>\n

Mexican intelligence sources allege he is a key figure in Los Chapitos and that he played a role in the sting operation which led to the arrest of another cartel kingpin “El Mayo Zambada” in the US.<\/a> <\/p>\n

The pilot’s lawyers have asked the courts for more time to prepare his defence. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While “El Jando” was detained in the early hours of Saturday, detailed information about the charges levelled against him have only become public in recent days.<\/p>\n

Mexico’s security minister told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday that he could confirm “El Jando” was the trusted pilot of the leader of “Los Chapitos”.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege that as well as being an accomplished pilot, he was also involved in drug and arms trafficking and in several explosive attacks on the security forces.<\/p>\n

Most importantly though, Mexican intelligence services are now hoping to gain information from “El Jando” about the mysterious flight which delivered wanted drug kingpin “El Mayo” into the hands of US federal agents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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US officials have said that “El Mayo” was betrayed by none other than Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez, one of the sons of the infamous “El Chapo” Guzm\u00e1n. <\/p>\n

The officials allege that Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez tricked the 75-year-old “El Mayo” – who had been a close ally of his father – into boarding a plane with him which then crossed the border into the US.<\/p>\n

Photos released by US law enforcement showed the two men being arrested at a private airport near El Paso, Texas, by US agents who had clearly been waiting for them on the airport’s tarmac for their arrival. <\/p>\n

Those loyal to “El Mayo” think that Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez delivered the cartel leader, who had evaded capture for three decades, to the US as part of a deal to negotiate a lesser sentence for himself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ReutersReuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

‘El Mayo’ has pleaded not guilty to drugs charges<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The lawyer for “El Mayo” denied that his client had been “duped”, but said that he had been forced onto the plane by Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez.<\/p>\n

“He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed … he was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to a landing strip; there, he was forced onto a plane, his legs tied to the seat by Joaqu\u00edn, and brought to the US against his will,” the lawyer told the LA Times newspaper. <\/p>\n

The lawyer also said that the only people on board the plane had been “the pilot, Joaqu\u00edn and my client”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ReutersReuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The plane landed in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, not far from El Paso<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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While it is not yet clear whether “El Jando” – the pilot arrested this weekend – was the one who flew the plane or whether he helped to plan the operation, Mexican prosecutors appeared confident he could provide them with information about the flight which ended in the arrest of both Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez and “El Mayo”.<\/p>\n

“El Mayo” has since pleaded not guilty in a US court to a long list of drug-related charges while lawyers for Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez have said that their client is in plea negotiations. <\/p>\n

The alleged betrayal of “El Mayo” by Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez has led to a split in their cartel with followers of the former, known as “Los Mayos” or “La Mayiza”, attacking those loyal to the latter. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vanessa Buschschl\u00fcter BBC News Twitter\/@OHarfuch A photo of “El Jando” was released after his arrest by Mexican security forces Security forces in Mexico have arrested a pilot they suspect of working for Los Chapitos, the Mexican cartel run by sons of the jailed drug lord Joaqu\u00edn ‘”El Chapo” Guzm\u00e1n. The pilot, known by the alias […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23005,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23003\/revisions\/23005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}