A key player in one of the world’s most successful drug cartels has been arrested by security forces in Mexico City.<\/p>\n
Damaso Lopez, the right-hand man of jailed drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, was captured on Tuesday with the help of the Mexican army.<\/p>\n
The former security official is believed to have been involved in a bloody struggle for the Sinaloa drug cartel with the sons of the notorious drug kingpin.<\/p>\n
The Sinaloa cartel was destabilised after their former boss Guzman was extradited to the US in January.<\/p>\n
Lopez – who is nicknamed ‘The Graduate’ – was captured in an apartment in a middle-class neighbourhood a few weeks after a video emerged of him eating at a Mexico City restaurant.<\/p>\n
Officials believe he played a role in orchestrating Guzman’s first escape from prison in 2001, before joining the cartel.<\/p>\n
Guzman, who was flown to New York to stand trial for drug trafficking the day before Donald Trump became President, was recaptured last year after managing to break out of a maximum-security prison through a mile-long tunnel in his cell.<\/p>\n
It was the second time the notorious drug lord had managed to escape from prison in a spectacular fashion.<\/p>\n
With Guzman in jail, the Sinaloa cartel has been controlled by Lopez, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Garcia and Rafael Caro Quintero, and Guzman’s son Ivan Archivaldo Guzman.<\/p>\n
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Source lbc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"