American law enforcement officials arrested two top leaders of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, one of the most dominant criminal organisations in Mexico, the justice department said on Thursday.

The two operatives, Ismael Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán López, are among the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexico, commanding massive cocaine and fentanyl businesses that move narcotics into the US, Europe and elsewhere. Both men were in custody in El Paso, Texas.

The arrests were a victory for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations, which have been chasing the top ranks of the Sinaloa cartel for years.

“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced,” attorney-general Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The justice department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable.”

Zambada García, 76, a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel who is known as El Mayo, has been charged in several federal indictments stretching back more than two decades.

Officials said he was flown to the US after being lured onto a private plane under false pretenses by Guzmán López.

Guzmán López, a son of the notorious crime boss Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo, is said to have been elevated to a leadership role in the cartel along with his three other brothers after the extradition of his father to the US in 2017. His brother Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested in Mexico and extradited last September to Chicago, where he is expected to stand trial.

Joaquín Guzmán López is expected to appear in US district court in Chicago in the coming days. It was unclear on Thursday night where Zambada García would be prosecuted.

New York Times News Service