Wife of Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ arrested in US
- Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, is accused of drug trafficking and of helping her husband escape from prison in 2015 by building a 1.6km underground tunnel
- During his 25-year reign, El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel smuggled mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the US
The wife of Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested on Monday at an airport in Virginia on international drug trafficking charges, the Justice Department said.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, who is a dual citizen of the US and Mexico, was arrested at Dulles International Airport and is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.
She is charged in a single-count criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the US.
The Justice Department also accuses her of helping her husband escape from a Mexican prison in 2015 and taking part in the planning of a second prison escape before Guzman was extradited to the US in January 2017.
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CCTV footage shows El Chapo escape in Mexico
As Mexico’s most powerful drug lord, Guzman escaped through an entry under the shower in his cell to a mile-long (1.6km-long) lighted tunnel with a motorcycle on rails. The planning for the escape was extensive, prosecutors say, with his wife playing a key role.
