A suspected fentanyl trafficker wanted by the United States who offered $3 million to be captured was arrested in Mexico on Wednesday, local authorities said.
Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, alias “Nini,” is close to the sons of drug lord Joaquin Guzman, alias “El Chapo,” who is serving a life sentence in the United States. According to the National Arrest Registry and local media, he was arrested in Culiacán, in the northwest of the country.
Washington accuses “Nini” of being the head of security for the sons of “Chapo” Guzman (the “Chapitos”).
Mexico extradited one of the “Chapitos,” Ovidio Guzman, to the United States in mid-September.
The United States also accuses him of smuggling “massive” quantities of fentanyl, the synthetic drug that is killing thousands of drug addicts in the United States, on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The State Department claims that Pérez Salas works “directly” for the main representative of another of Chapo Guzmán’s sons, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, who currently runs the Sinaloa Cartel along with Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, one of the criminal organization’s founders.
Perez Salas is one of the commanders of the “Ninis,” a “particularly violent” armed group responsible for the security of “Chapo’s” sons, the Foreign Ministry added.
In April, a New York federal court charged “Nini” with conspiracy to import fentanyl and possession of machine guns, according to the Justice Department.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) believes that the Sinaloa Cartel is “largely” responsible for fentanyl smuggling into the US in recent years.
According to American authorities, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiate that is responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States each year.
The drug, often made from products sourced from China, is being imported into the U.S. by Mexican cartels, according to Washington.