Mexican authorities find 20 bodies in Sinaloa state
The Sinaloa state prosecutor's office reported a grisly scene on Monday: Four headless corpses were found on a roadside, 16 bodies were discovered inside an abandoned vehicle near the state capital, Culiacan, and five human heads were found inside a bag.
Authorities said the bodies were left with a note, apparently from one of the cartel factions, although the note's contents were not immediately disclosed.
Feliciano Castro, a Sinaloa government spokesperson, condemned the killings and said authorities need to examine their strategy for tackling organised crime due to the 'magnitude' of the violence seen.
'Military and police forces are working together to re-establish total peace in Sinaloa,' Castro said. Members of the public in the state, however, said authorities have lost control. Sinaloa has been gripped by months of violence fuelled by rival drug traffickers vying for control of routes used to produce and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the United States. The groups are split between members loyal to Sinaloa Cartel cofounders Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman and Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada.
The violence peaked after the arrest in July of Zambada, who is on trial in the US. The US announced it had arrested 76-year-old Zambada and 38-year-old Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 'El Chapo' Guzman's son, at an airport near El Paso, Texas. (Agencies)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
6 days ago
- Qatar Tribune
Ecuador's biggest drug lord ‘Fito' extradited to US
The Ecuadoran government on Sunday extradited notorious drug trafficker Adolfo Macias, alias 'Fito,' to the United States, a month after he was recaptured following a 2024 escape from a maximum security penitentiary, the country's prison authority said. The flight transporting Macias landed in New York state on Sunday night, according to the Flightradar tracking site. The US Attorney's Office filed charges in April against Macias, the head of the 'Los Choneros' gang, on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms violations, including weapons smuggling. A letter filed by the US Department of Justice on Sunday said Macias was due to appear in a federal court on Monday 'for an arraignment on the Superseding Indictment in this case.' The drug lord on Sunday was removed from custody at a maximum security prison in Ecuador's southwest 'for the purposes that correspond to the extradition process,' Ecuador's prison authority SNAI said in a statement to reporters. Macias, a former taxi driver turned crime boss, agreed in a Quito court last week to be extradited to the United States to face the charges. He is the first Ecuadoran extradited by his country since a new measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which President Daniel Noboa sought the approval of moves to boost his war on criminal gangs. Ecuador, once a peaceful haven between the world's two top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, has seen violence erupt in recent years as enemy gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control. Soon after Macias escaped from prison in January 2024, Noboa declared Ecuador to be in a state of 'internal armed conflict' and ordered the military and tanks into the streets to 'neutralize' the gangs. (Agencies)Drug trafficker Adolfo Macias (C), alias Fito, was taken to an air base in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on June 25, 2025.
Al Jazeera
11-07-2025
- Al Jazeera
Son of drug lord ‘El Chapo' set for guilty plea in US trafficking case
A son of the infamous Mexican drug cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is expected to plead guilty in a wide-ranging United States drug trafficking case at a court hearing in Chicago. Court records for Ovidio Guzman Lopez indicate he intends to change his not-guilty plea as part of a deal with federal prosecutors at the hearing on Friday. If confirmed, it would be the first time one of El Chapo's sons has struck such an agreement. Federal prosecutors allege that Ovidio and his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who became known locally as Los Chapitos, led a powerful faction of the notorious Mexican Sinaloa cartel. They are accused of masterminding a major fentanyl trafficking operation that funnelled what prosecutors described as a 'staggering' amount of the synthetic opioid into the US. The US has suffered a major opioid crisis in the last few decades, which has resulted in large numbers of deaths, addiction, and lawsuits. Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is currently serving a life sentence in a US federal prison following a 2019 conviction. After his capture, Ovidio Guzman Lopez and his siblings reportedly took on key leadership roles within the cartel. Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested by Mexican authorities in early 2023 and extradited to the US months later. He originally pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges. His brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, and longtime cartel leader Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada were arrested in Texas in 2024 after arriving on a private plane. Both men have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges. Their high-profile capture set off a wave of violence across Sinaloa as rival factions scrambled for control, vying for control of routes used to produce and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the US. The groups are split between members loyal to the Sinaloa Cartel cofounders, 'El Chapo' Guzman and Zambada.
Al Jazeera
04-07-2025
- Al Jazeera
Boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr likely to soon be deported to Mexico: Sheinbaum
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced she expects boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr to soon be deported from the United States to serve a sentence for arms trafficking and organised crime. Sheinbaum explained on Friday that Mexico has had an arrest warrant for the boxer since 2023, stemming from an investigation initiated in 2019. But Chavez had not previously been arrested because he spends most of his time in the US. ''The hope is that he will be deported and serve the sentence in Mexico,' Sheinbaum said, adding: 'That's the process the attorney general's office is working on.' Her statement comes two days after Chavez was detained in Los Angeles by US immigration authorities, after they determined he made fraudulent statements in a 2024 application for permanent residency. The son of a boxing legend, Chavez appeared last weekend in a sold-out match in Anaheim, California. But he lost to 28-year-old influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a unanimous decision after 10 rounds. Alleged ties to cartel Following his arrest, the US Department of Homeland Security said that Chavez is suspected of having ties to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel. The US has designated the group and several other Latin American cartels as 'foreign terrorist organisations' as part of a wider effort to staunch cross-border crime. The administration has also sought to surge deportations in recent years, to make good on US President Donald Trump's campaign promises. Michael Goldstein, a lawyer for Chavez, said more than two dozen immigration agents arrested the boxer at his home in the Studio City area of Los Angeles on Wednesday. 'The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorise the community,' Goldstein said. Chavez's family in Mexico said in a statement that they 'fully trust his innocence'. His wife, Frida Munoz Chavez, was previously married to the son of the former Sinaloa Cartel leader, who is serving a life sentence in a US prison, Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. That son, Edgar, was assassinated in Culiacan, Mexico, in 2008. Speaking on Friday, Sheinbaum said she did not know if the boxer had any ties to the cartel. The son of Mexican world champion fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, Chavez had won the WBC middleweight championship in 2011. He lost the title the following year. However, his career has been largely overshadowed by controversies, including a suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2009 and a fine and suspension after testing positive for marijuana in 2013.
