Mexico drug war: Marines arrest son of ‘El Chapo’, the world’s most-wanted drug trafficker

Mexican authorities have arrested one of the sons of the country’s most-wanted drug trafficker, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, who is the leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel.

According to the BBC, Mexican marines detained Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar in Zapopan in the central state of Jalisco.

The Navy issued a brief statement today saying the 26-year-old had been arrested thanks to intelligence work, but did not say when he was caught, the Associated Press reported.

The Telegraph said US authorities had slapped financial sanctions on Guzman Salazar and other members of his family earlier this month. Guzman Salazar and his father were indicted in the United States in 2009 on multiple drug trafficking charges, the AP said. 

Guzman Loera, whose nickname means Shorty, has been on the run from police since 2001 when he escaped from a maximum security prison.

The United States considers him to be the most powerful drug trafficker in the world, and Forbes ranks him as one of the world’s richest people, with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.

The high-profile arrest comes a little more than a week before the Mexican presidential election.

Spiraling drug-related violence has been a key issue in the three-month campaign.

Front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto, the telegenic candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has promised to appoint the retired Colombian General Oscar Naranjo as Mexico’s chief security adviser if he wins the July 1 ballot, which most polls indicate is highly likely. 

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