Federal officials are offering an award of up to $5 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Aureliano Guzman-Loera, the brother of incarcerated drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera, and other high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel charged with international drug trafficking.
Officials unsealed two indictments last week charging Guzman-Loera, known as “El Guano,” and brothers Ruperto, Jose and Heriberto Salgueiro-Nevarez with violating U.S. drug laws, including international conspiracies to distribute marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
A federal grand jury in Tucson issued the indictments on Nov. 13, 2019, and Feb. 19, 2020. Homeland Security Investigations is conducting the investigation, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tucson is handling the prosecution.
After El Chapo’s arrest in January 2016, there were conflicting reports on who was running the Sinaloa Cartel, though some reports pointed to Guzman-Loera.
The Salgueiro-Nevarez brothers allegedly operate a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel known as the SNO, which stands for the Salgueiro-Nevarez Organization, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona.
In 2019, federal agents believed Guzman-Loera was running an extensive drug-trafficking operation in northern Mexico and in Arizona and Texas.
Federal judges in Tucson approved dozens of requests to gather data on calls and messages to BlackBerry devices, WhatsApp accounts and cellphones tied to Guzman-Loera.
Federal agents said Guzman was using a BlackBerry to discuss “high level Sinaloa Cartel operational business” and that other cartel members had frequent communications with a major U.S. bank; coordinated large shipments of cocaine from Colombia; and used a BlackBerry to discuss meetings with Mexican military and drug trafficking activities as well as provide information on rival drug cartels.
The widespread use of BlackBerrys by the Sinaloa Cartel came to light during the trial for El Chapo, according to Arizona Daily Star archives.
The announcement about the indictments and award came a day after Mexico reported its largest seizure of pure fentanyl at 260 pounds, worth an estimated $48 million, and arrested five suspects allegedly responsible for fabricating it, according to the Associated Press.
Fentanyl was responsible for more than 63% of the 96,779 drug overdose deaths in the United States between March 2020 and 2021, a federal news release said.
The recent indictments and the award money, offered under the U.S. State Department’s Narcotics Rewards Program, are part of the federal government’s effort to combat drug trafficking and transnational organized crime globally and in Mexico, said a Department of State news release.
More than 75 transnational criminals and major narcotics traffickers have been found and convicted under the program and the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program since its inception in 1986, the news release said. In that time, the department paid more than $135 million in rewards for information leading to apprehensions.
