The wife of convicted drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera “El Chapo” was arrested at a suburban Washington, D.C. airport on Monday for her suspected role in distributing cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamines and heroin.
The 31-year-old Emma Coronel Aispuro, a dual U.S.- Mexican citizen who had been a fixture at El Chapo’s 2019 trial in Brooklyn, N.Y., is anticipated to make her first appearance in Washington on Tuesday.
Loera, a leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa narcotics cartel, was prisoned to life following his trial.
Chapo’s wife is alleged in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine in the United States and is charged to have helped in her husband’s successful 2015 escape from a Mexican prison. She also is alleged of plotting another escape before Chapo’s extradition to the U.S. in 2017.
A leading New York City defence lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, who was one of Guzman’s lawyer during the trial, stated on Monday that he is defending the druglord’s wife. He rejected to comment any further.
The U.S. authorities stated in court documents, “Emma grew old with knowledge of the drug trafficking industry and tied the knot with Chapo when she was a teenager. She is aware of the reach of Sinaloa Cartel’s drug trafficking. Emma understands and knows the Sinaloa Cartel is the most abundant in Mexico.”
As stated in the documents, she was also “completely aware of multi-kilo heroin production, multi-ton cocaine shipments and multi-ton marijuana shipments, and tons of methamphetamine shipments.”
