Drug cartel tied to El Chapo’s son claims responsibility for kidnapping SIXTY-SIX people in response to a rash of home invasions by four suspects

A faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons has reportedly claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 66 people this weekend in the northern Mexican city of Culiacán.

A series of narco-manta rays (or banners) were found on four highway overpasses and bridges before Tuesday morning’s rush hour. The banners emphasized that the kidnappings were in response to a wave of criminal incidents orchestrated by a home burglary gang, which some say is led by law enforcement officers.

Each display featured a banner with a message signed with the initials of El Chapo’s son, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, and photos of the gang’s four leaders.

“This is going to happen to all the thieves in Sinaloa so they feel what families feel when they steal their homes and violate their privacy,” the narco banner read in Spanish. ‘Theft, kidnapping, extortion or (collecting money for the right to run a business) are not allowed here.

‘You already know what the organization’s principles are, be clear about that. Relatives of people involved in these crimes avoid having a bad time and report any act of this nature. ATTN: IAG.’

The banner was signed with the initials of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s son, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, and is said to have claimed responsibility for the mass kidnappings

The Mexican army guards a street in Culiacán, Sinaloa on Monday, a day after a National Guard member was killed in a gun battle during an operation that led to the rescue of 16 kidnapped people

The cartel accused Ramón Báez, a member of the Sinaloa Police Department, and Cristián Roldan, an agent assigned to the Sinaloa Attorney General’s office, of leading a group of intruders that targeted homes across the state.

According to the Sinaloa Public Prosecutor’s Office, the kidnappings took place between Friday and Saturday.

The group released 42 people on Saturday and another 16 on Sunday.

Also on Sunday, a member of the Mexican National Guard was killed in the region while taking part in rescue efforts in the capital of Sinaloa state.

Eight of the kidnapping victims were still missing as of Tuesday afternoon.

None of the people released agreed to formally accuse the kidnappers, said Gerardo Mérida, Sinaloa’s public security secretary.

Authorities have not said who was behind the kidnappings, which occurred after the killings of three people Thursday in the Badiraguato region.

Local media initially reported that the kidnappings were linked to an internal conflict between ‘Los Chapitos’, led by El Chapo’s three sons, and the other side of the cartel, commanded by Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, who co-founded belonged to the cartel. the organization with El Chapo.

El Chapo is a former Mexican drug lord and one of the most prolific drug traffickers in history. He is currently serving a life sentence in the US.

Narco banners showing the faces of four gang leaders involved in a series of robberies and extortion invasions were found in the Mexican city of Culiacán.

Mexican authorities have not addressed the narco banners found Tuesday in Culiacán, Sinaloa.

Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, his sibling Jesús Alfredo Guzmán and their half-brother Joaquín Guzmán have been indicted on drug charges by federal grand juries in New York and Illinois.

Their brother, Ovidio Guzmán, was captured in January 2023 and extradited to Chicago eight months later.

The Guzmán brothers are accused of shipping chemicals needed to produce fentanyl from China to Mexico and coordinating the trade of the deadly drug from Mexico to the United States.

The Drug Enforcement Administration alleges that the Sinaloa Cartel and its rival, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, are responsible for flooding the streets of the United States with fentanyl.