Featured Image Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy . Mexico Police.
Topics: World News, News, Drugs, Crime
Rachel Lang
Topics: World News, News, Drugs, Crime
Son of notorious drug lord El Chapo, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, has been arrested in Mexico.
Government security forces took the narcotics trafficker into custody, sparking fierce backlash from gangs across the northwestern city of Culiacan.
Violence has become so intense over the detainment of the Sinaloa Cartel kingpin that Culiacan Airport was forced closed for safety reasons as riots and looting took hold of the city.
As per Reuters, airline Aeromexico said one of its planes had been hit by gunfire ahead of a scheduled flight to Mexico City.
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Residents of Culiacan were advised to stay indoors as violent clashes continued across the city.
Guzman, 32, was arrested in 2019 but was later released after significant threats of violence from his supporters.
The debacle was seen as quite an embarrassment to the Mexican Government and its rule of law.
Culiacán erupted with the sound of sniper rifles while masked men strapped with machine guns rode around on the back of trucks, opening fire on Mexican security forces, as well as the country’s newly created national guard last time he was arrested.
Now, it appears history is repeating itself.
As word spread of his arrest, the streets of Culiacán are again like a warzone as cartel members open fire.
Videos now surfacing on social media show vehicles on fire and intense gunfire across the city, with schools and government offices closed while the chaos unfolds.
As per CNN, Secretary of Public Security Cristóbal Castañeda has advised locals to shelter inside as mayhem starts to take hold.
The United States has previously offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ovidio.
It is not yet clear if the young narcotics kingpin will be extradited to the US like his father.
Joaquin Guzman, better known as El Capo, was convicted in February 2019 for 10 counts including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and drug trafficking charges, among others.
The Court also ordered El Chapo to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture.
El Chapo headed the Sinaloa Cartel, with his son attempting to take over after he was extradited to the US in 2017.
When he was free El Chapo was considered one of the most powerful drug traffickers and one of the most dangerous men in the world.
El Chapo’s wife Emma Coronel is also currently serving a three-year sentence at a jail in Texas after pleading guilty to three counts of conspiring to distribute illegal drugs, conspiring to launder money and of engaging in financial dealings with the Sinaloa drug cartel in June last year.