Mexico City, Jul 28 (EFE).- Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) announced Sunday that an additional 200 Mexican Army soldiers were deployed to the northern state of Sinaloa, in addition to the 200 troops sent on Friday, to increase security following the arrest of drug traffickers Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, son of “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Sedena said the soldiers were sent to the city of Culiacán “with the aim of contributing to the suppression of the illegal activities of criminal groups present in (Sinaloa).”
The personnel belong to the Special Forces Corps and the Parachute Rifle Brigade of the Mexican Army.
The deployment of the troops comes on the heels of the capture of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López on Thursday near El Paso, Texas, in the United States.
Zambada, for whom the US Justice Department was offering 15 million dollars, faces US charges of narcotics trafficking, weapons trafficking, money laundering, murder, and kidnapping and also has four warrants out for his arrest in Mexico.
Guzmán López is accused of trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines.
El Mayo was the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel with El Chapo and became its leader after his associate was captured and sentenced to life in prison in the US.
The arrests come three months before the US presidential elections, in which the trafficking of fentanyl from Mexico and the power of Mexican cartels have been a key issue. EFE
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