On Monday, the wife of former Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested on international drug trafficking charges at Virginia’s Dulles International Airport, according to an announcement by the Justice Department.
31-year-old Emma Coronel Aispuro, who holds dual-citizenship in the U.S. and Mexico, is expected to appear on Tuesday in a federal court in Washington, as reported by the AP.
Aispuro has been charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the U.S. The Justice Department has also accused her of helping her husband in a 2015 escape from a Mexican prison, and planning to help him escape from another prison in January 2017 before he could be extradited to America.
The 2015 escape, which made worldwide headlines due to the notoriety of Guzman, in addition to how cartoonish it seemed, happened by Guzman climbing into an entry under the shower in his cell. From there he rode a motorcycle down a mile-long lighted hallway. Prosecutors claim that his wife played some sort of key role in the planning of that. Specifically, they contend that she worked with Guzman’s sons, along with a witness (who is now working with prosecutors) to organize underground construction. Part of that organization was allegedly involved in the buying of land next to the prison, along with the purchases of guns and an armored truck. It also reportedly involved smuggling the incarcerated Guzman a GPS watch for the purpose of pinpointing his exact whereabouts so they could bring the tunnel right to him.
In 2019, Guzman was handed a life sentence. In recent court papers it’s stated that Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel smuggled massive amounts of drugs to the U.S. during a 25-year period with him at the top. Those same papers allege he used an army of “hit men” to kidnap, torture, or kill any adversaries who got in his way.
