Mexican drug kingpin's son pleads not guilty in US Court
Jul 31, 2024
Texas [US], July 31 : Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, has pleaded not guilty to various charges related to drug trafficking in a Chicago court in the US, Al Jazeera reported.
In the five-count indictment against Guzman Lopez on Tuesday, the federal prosecutors included weapons charges. US District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ordered him detained pending trial and announced that the next hearing for the case would be on September 30, the report said.
The hearing came days after Guzman Lopez and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a longtime member of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, in the El Paso, Texas, area were arrested last week by the US authorities, Al Jazeera reported, quoting the US Department of Justice.
Last week, an official said that Guzman Lopez wanted to surrender but Zambada didn't. So, he duped Zambada into boarding a propeller plane in Mexico by telling him that they were going to check out real estate.
Zambada's lawyer, Frank Perez argued that Guzman Lopez "forcibly kidnapped" Zambada and brought him to the US. Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug charges last week in El Paso case.
Mexico opened an investigation into the case to unravel the circumstances leading up to the duo's arrest.
The US authorities' success in arresting them made Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issue an appeal to drug cartels to not fight among themselves.
"Those who are engaged in these illegal activities know they resolve nothing with confrontations. They would go out and risk the lives of other human beings, and why make families suffer?" he said.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram said Zambada's arrest "strikes at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast".
