Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was tricked and forced to board a plane to the United States last month by the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, he said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement released by Zambada’s lawyer sets out the drug lord’s version of how US authorities managed to arrest both Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the alleged leader of another faction of the criminal group, outside El Paso, Texas.
Zambada said he was “ambushed” as he was scheduled to meet with Guzman Lopez and Sinaloa state officials, including Governor Ruben Rocha and Hector Cuen, who was recently elected as a federal deputy for the next legislative session.
The state government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zambada said he first saw Cuen on a ranch outside the state capital of Culiacán and then Guzman Lopez, “who I have known since he was a little boy, and he motioned for me to follow him.”
Zambada said he followed Guzman Lopez, “trusting the nature of the meeting and the people involved,” and was led into a dark room.
According to authorities, relations between the two main factions of the Sinaloa cartel – one led by Zambada, the other by El Chapo’s sons – have been difficult at times since El Chapo’s arrest in 2016.
Zambada said that when he entered the room, a group of men knocked him to the ground, handcuffed him, and placed a hood over his head. He was taken in the back of a pickup truck to a nearby airstrip where a plane was waiting.
Guzman Lopez tied Zambada to a seat with cable ties and the plane left for the United States with only the two men and the pilot on board, Zambada said.
The Guzman family’s lawyer has repeatedly denied that Zambada was abducted by force. Instead, he spoke of a voluntary surrender after lengthy negotiations between the drug traffickers and the US government.
The United States announced on Friday through its embassy in Mexico that Guzmán López had turned himself in voluntarily, but that Zambada had apparently been arrested against his will.
In his statement, Zambada also said that Cuen was killed during the arrest of the drug lord and that a police officer and his bodyguard who accompanied Zambada have not been seen since.
Sinaloa authorities had previously said Cuen was probably killed during a car theft at a gas station in Culiacán.
Both Zambada and Guzman Lopez have pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court.
