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Beijing, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Ismael Zambada Garcia, a 70-year-old Mexican drug lord wanted by the United States for decades, was arrested in Texas on July 25, shocking the presidents of both countries. U.S. media reported on July 26 that Zambada did not voluntarily surrender to the United States, but fell into a trap designed by "his own people" and was tricked into boarding a plane and arrested as soon as he landed.

Zambada and Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman jointly founded the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel in the late 1980s. Zambada and Guzman's son Lopez were arrested on the 25th in El Paso, a border city in Texas, the United States, bordering Mexico.

On August 4, 2019, in El Paso, western Texas, the United States, police officers were on guard near a shooting scene. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Liwei

The 76-year-old Sambada is elusive and is believed to have never been arrested. The U.S. State Department has offered a $15 million reward for his capture. According to the Associated Press, Sambada appeared in court in a wheelchair on the 26th and denied all charges brought by the prosecution, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and conspiracy to murder, and pleaded not guilty.

According to multiple US media reports, Sambada arrived in El Paso on a private plane on the 25th and was arrested by US law enforcement officers at the airport as soon as he got off the plane. People familiar with the matter said that Sambada did not know that his destination was El Paso and thought he was going to northern Mexico. It was Lopez who was arrested with him who tricked him into boarding the plane.

According to reports, after Guzman was arrested, his four sons and his old partner Zambada continued to fight for leadership, and the conflict intensified. Lopez finally decided to surrender himself to the United States, and in order to atone for his crimes and get a lighter sentence, he tricked Zambada into the United States with him.

Soldiers escort Mexico's top drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, on the evening of January 8, 2016. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Alejandro Ayala)

US President Joseph Biden welcomed the arrest of the two major drug traffickers and said the US would continue to hunt down drug traffickers. Mexican President Lopez Obrador said Mexico was not involved in the arrest and was waiting for details from the US. To prevent unrest in Sinaloa, the home of drug cartels, the Mexican military sent a 200-member special forces unit to the state.

The Sinaloa drug cartel is believed to be one of the largest drug crime groups in the world and the largest in Mexico. The group's former leader Guzman was arrested three times and escaped from prison twice. He was extradited to the United States for trial in 2017. In 2018, he was convicted of 10 charges including drug trafficking, murder and money laundering. In 2019, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined $12.6 billion. He is currently serving his sentence in a prison with the highest security level in the United States. (Wang Hongbin)