Seventeen of El Chapo's family enter US in ‘secret cartel deal'
Seventeen relatives of the Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán were secretly brought into California, seemingly as part of a deal with the White House.
El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence at a 'supermax' prison in Colorado, is the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, which the US government says smuggles enormous amounts of narcotics into the country.
Ovidio Guzmán, one of El Chapo's four sons, was extradited to the US in 2023 for allegedly overseeing a faction of the cartel. The arrival of 17 family members in California last week is believed to be part of a deal between him and the Trump administration. Rumours circulated last week that the younger Guzmán would plead guilty to avoid trial for several drug-trafficking charges.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Ex-Louisville star Russ Smith arrested on suspicion of DUI and reckless driving
A former college and high school basketball star at two national powerhouses is now facing a DUI charge in Louisville. Russ Smith, a 34-year-old guard playing in Italy's second division, was picked up in the early hours of Sunday morning. He has since been booked on charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, reckless driving and one count for an expired registration tag, according to online records. As reported by the Louisville Courier Journal, police claim to have observed Smith making an illegal U-turn across several lanes in the city's Original Highlands neighborhood – a historic area with century-old Victorian homes and shotgun houses. An officer reported a 'strong odor of alcoholic beverages' emanating from Smith, who admitted to consuming 'two bourbon pours neat' before getting behind the wheel. The former Louisville Cardinals star and NCAA champion then failed a field sobriety test before his blood-alcohol level of 0.073 was recorded, according to the arrest citation. That is technically below Kentucky 's 0.08 blood-alcohol limit, but state law permits charges for drivers with any level above 0.04 if there is 'other competent evidence' to consider, according to the Courier Journal. Smith has since been released on bond and will be due for an arraignment hearing on Wednesday at 9am. The New York native is best known to hoops fanatics as the scrappy 6-foot Louisville guard who, along with Peyton Siva, led coach Rick Pitino's Cardinals to a national championship in 2013 – a title the school has since vacated. In 2015, it was revealed that Louisville recruits were provided strippers and escorts between 2010 and 2014. One woman later claimed she was paid $100 to have sex with Smith, then a top recruit from Queens, New York's Archbishop Molloy. Smith would later deny that claim to the Courier Journal in 2016. He was never charged for any wrongdoing in the NCAA case against Louisville, which vacated the 2013 title and other achievements as part of its punishment. He would go on to be taken by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft but never really found a home in the league.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
US troops make first detentions in Trump border military zones
June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. troops have made their first detentions inside military areas set up on the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, the U.S. Army said. The unprecedented military areas along 260 miles (418 km) of border in New Mexico and Texas were declared extensions of U.S. Army bases by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, allowing troops to temporarily detain migrants and other civilian trespassers. Three 'illegal aliens' were detained by troops in the New Mexico area near Santa Teresa on June 3, before being handed to U.S. Border Patrol, Army spokesperson Major Geoffrey Carmichael said in an email. "This marks the first time Department of Defense personnel have recorded a temporary detainment within either National Defense Area," Carmichael said. U.S. presidents have long used active-duty and reservist troops on the international boundary in support roles to U.S. Border Patrol such as surveillance and construction. President Donald Trump took military use a step further by giving troops the right to hold trespassers they catch in the zones until civilian law enforcement assumes custody. Federal troops can also search people and conduct crowd control measures within the areas, according to the Army. Designation of the zones as military bases allowed troops to detain migrants without the need for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. The 1807 law lets a U.S. president deploy federal troops domestically to suppress events like civil disorder. Prosecution of dozens of migrants caught in the zones has faced setbacks in court after judges in New Mexico and Texas dismissed trespassing charges, and acquitted a Peruvian woman, ruling they did not know they were entering restricted areas. The primary role of troops in the zones is to detect and track illegal border crossers, with around 390 such detections so far, the Army said. News of the detentions inside military areas came as Trump deployed state-based National Guard troops to Los Angeles during protests over immigration raids.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I might be a maverick old sea wolf - but there is a VERY big red line I will never cross. But now I'm facing 10 years in jail. Here's why...
Thomas Goertz insists he's just what he looks like - a happy-go-lucky, well-weathered old sea salt chasing a life of adventure on the ocean wave. But while he may appear to be a modern day Jack Sparrow, Australian Federal Police allege the globetrotting German navigator is something far, far more sinister. They paint Goertz not as a loveable rogue but a cynical pirate who is prepared to smuggle international drug traffickers out of the country. Now Goertz has broken his silence to Daily Mail Australia after he was hit by criminal charges which could land him in prison for 10 years. He most wants to stress and clarify that he has never ever been involved in terrorism. Detectives have accused Goertz of helping an alleged drug supplier flee Australia by sailing him from Far North Queensland to Thailand in 2023. That alleged drug dealer, Sayet Erhan Akca, is now believed to be living in Turkey and has been named as the mastermind behind a string of anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney. Goertz is also charged with attempting to commit a federal offence (people smuggling) by agreeing to sneak another alleged drug supplier out of the Top End through the Arafura Sea. 'I'm in a bit of a predicament now,' the 51-year-old told Daily Mail Australia. 'Nobody knows the truth except me. 'All this terror-related stuff - I don't want anything to do with that. I'm not a terrorist. I don't believe in violence. Absolutely not. Not even a little bit.' Federal police have painted the globetrotting German navigator Thomas Goertz as a pirate prepared to allegedly smuggle international drug traffickers out of the country. He is pictured wearing an ankle monitor with his partner Jade Ormiston reporting on bail in Darwin last week Goertz and his girlfriend Jade Siu Ying Ormiston were arrested on January 26 on a yacht while allegedly trying to sail accused drug trafficker Hussein Chamas out of the Northern Territory. Chamas, who had pleaded not guilty to importing and conspiring to traffic a commercial quantity of drugs, had allegedly left a rehabilitation centre north of Newcastle on January 8 using forged court bail documents. The 35-year-old failed to appear in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on January 20 and was allegedly driven more than 4,000km in a campervan to Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula. Goertz and Omiston, a 42-year-old British national, were granted bail on February 18 under strict conditions including that they stay in a Darwin hotel and not go within 500m of any airport or boat mooring. Goertz was arrested again on March 21 and charged with another count of people smuggling for allegedly transporting Akca to Thailand. He was again granted bail after spending three more days in the Darwin watch house. Neither Goertz nor Ormiston has entered pleas to any charges. The Akca allegations from 2023 are more complex and complicated even further by claims the alleged fugitive coordinated anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney earlier this year. 'I heard of the terror stuff two days after I got out of the watch house,' Goertz said. 'Oh man, I was so down. I was really devastated.' Akca was arrested in early 2022 and charged with charged with dealing with more than $100,000 suspected of being the proceeds of crime as well as importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug. The 32-year-old former gym and childcare centre owner was granted bail and in July 2023 was allowed to take a holiday in Queensland. He did not appear as required at Downing Centre Local Court two months later on September 28 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. By then, police allege, Akca had been on board the 17m luxury vessel Moo for a week with Goertz at the helm, sailing through Indonesia on his way to freedom in Thailand. Goertz will not publicly discuss his alleged 42-day journey with Akca until his charges have been dealt with but was happy to talk about his life before he was accused of smuggling drug dealers. He and Ormiston ran out of money to foot their hotel bill in Darwin and their bail conditions have been altered to allow them to live elsewhere in the city. Goertz met Ormiston, who was born in Hong Kong, about eight years ago in Indonesia and the couple normally lives on a sloop called Juana Lucina. He grew up in Zug in central Switzerland. As a child and young adult Goertz sailed on the Swiss lakes, the Baltic Sea and in other parts of Europe. After university he worked in sales and marketing then demolition, specialising in removing hazardous waste such as lead-based paint and asbestos. He lived in Denmark where he married and had two children. 'But the marriage and the life I had chosen did not suit me very well,' he said. 'I basically got a divorce and then came out to South East Asia in 2015 with a one-way ticket and the specific aim to go sailing and live on the water. And that's what I did.' Based in Phuket for six or seven years, Goertz said he loved 'the sailing lifestyle' but it could also be hard work. 'Most people immediately think of fancy boats and sipping champagne and cocktails at anchor and it's not at all like that,' he said. He and Ormiston lived off less than US$1,000 a month, taking jobs such as cleaning hulls, crewing charter vessels and transporting boats from port to port. Sailing boats can only be moored in Thailand for six months before they are considered imports and attract taxes. Indonesia sets that time limit as three years. Sailors for hire such as Goertz can solve that problem by taking the boat to a country such as Malaysia, clearing Customs, then returning. Goertz has sailed non-stop across the north Pacific from Singapore to Mexico. He was trapped for five days inside a hurricane during that 67-day voyage. An eight-month trip from Phuket to Cape Town in South Africa included three months suck in Mauritius waiting for the winds to change. 'When we weren't working, we were on our own boat,' Goertz said. 'We lived on it and we were sailing all around the islands in Thailand and Indonesia and Malaysia. 'Just going from island to island - island hopping is the phrase. It's fantastic.' Goertz, who is still close to his son and daughter, calls himself as an 'anti-authoritarian hedonist' on his Instagram account and agrees that is an accurate description. 'I'm living a lifestyle on a boat,' he said. 'So finding pleasure is the most important thing we can do at sea. 'And the pleasure goes many, many ways. Having some beers on a beach with your feet in the sand is extremely pleasurable. Sailing through the night is amazing. 'It's those moments you always look for. And since that is the meaning of life for us, I thought I'm as close to a hedonist as I can get.' On his 50th birthday in July 2023, Goertz declared in a social media post: 'I can't believe that it has already been half a century of mischief and adventure.' Asked about that post, Goertz laughed and said, 'That is a perfect description.' 'It sounds a bit naughty but you are always dodging officials,' he said. 'You're always running with your papers somewhere. 'It's the only reason I actually know what year it is because at some point I have to check out of the country.' Goertz has not spoken to federal police about Akca and won't say for now how he came to be associated with him or Chamas in the alleged criminal conspiracies. 'When I was approached the first time it sounded like an extremely interesting opportunity and a challenge,' he said. 'I've done many interesting trips [in the past] but nothing illegal.' Goertz and Ormiston are now under curfews which keep them indoors from 7pm to 7am and are required to wear ankle monitors. 'Here in Darwin these five months, this is longest I've been ashore, ever,' Goertz said. 'I'm used to the swell and the movement of the boat and the noises it makes and now we're inside four walls. Nothing is moving and there's no sounds you have to listen to.' Goertz and Ormiston are due to face Darwin Local Court again on July 22. Chamas is due to appear in court on charges of not complying with his bail in June and August and will face trial on the drug matters next year.
