Alleged Member Of El Chapo's Cartel Arrested During Church Baptism

A man suspected of being a member of El Chapo's Sinaloa drug cartel was arrested last week in the middle of a baptism being held in a Mexican church.

Jose Bryan Salgueiro Zepeda was in attendance at the baptismal Mass at a church in Culiacán, Sinaloa, when agents interrupted the proceedings to arrest him.

Widely-shared footage of the dramatic events shows Salgueiro Zepeda standing alongside three other people in the church while a priest can be heard speaking off-camera.

See the footage below:

In the clip, the priest can be heard saying in Spanish: 'Do you renounce Satan? Do you renounce all of his seductions?'

Just as he asks the questions, an agent wearing a mask over his mouth can be seen grabbing a man by the arm and pulling him away, leaving the other bystanders looking confused and concerned. Local media has reported that the other man present at the ceremony was a nephew of El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence after being found guilty of international drug smuggling.

The Chihuahua attorney general's office identified the man who was arrested only as Jose Bryan S.Z. in keeping with Mexican rules relating to authorities naming crime suspects, though news reports have identified him as Salgueiro Zepeda.

The suspect has been accused of being a leader in the family-run Salgueiro crime organisation in Chihuahua affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel, according to the attorney general's office, per the El Paso Times, and he was arrested on a warrant for an aggravated kidnapping charge.

Salgueiro Zepeda, who is said to be known as 'El 90', allegedly identified himself as a Sinaloa cartel lieutenant belonging to 'Los Salgueiro' organisation after he was detained by the agents. The suspect was flown to Chihuahua City on a Mexican air force plane and taken to a prison following his arrest, which came as part of a special joint operation by the Mexican military, the National Antikidnapping Coordination and the Chihuahua attorney general's office.

A statement from the attorney general's office explained that Salgueiro Zepeda has been accused of taking part in the kidnapping of one person on May 19, 2020. His arrest was described as being a 'priority objective'.

Salgueiro Zepeda is said to be the nephew of the founders and leaders of the Gente Nueva, a faction of the Sinaloa cartel which reportedly oversees opium poppy and marijuana production in the southern part of Chihuahua.

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