This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

US efforts to curb the opioid fentanyl were behind the brief arrest of a son of imprisoned kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán last month, Mexico’s security minister has said.

After the US requested his extradition, Ovidio Guzmán was briefly arrested, then freed by outnumbered officials who feared a bloody confrontation with cartel henchmen.

'Call it off, please': video shows how operation against El Chapo's son fell apart Read more

Mexico’s security minister, Alfonso Durazo, said Guzmán was wanted on allegations of smuggling fentanyl, the potent opioid responsible for an overdose epidemic in the US.

Guzmán’s role has grown since his father, Joaquin Guzmán, was extradited in 2017 to face drug charges. Joaquin Guzmán is now serving a life sentence in a US prison.

“One of the very reasons for the US interest, and the basis for the extradition order, is in fact the suspected link between this alleged criminal and introducing fentanyl into the United States,” Durazo told reporters.

A US district court indictment against Ovidio Guzmán, issued in February, charged him with conspiring to traffic cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, but did not mention fentanyl.

Donald Trump in August said Mexico needed to do more to halt fentanyl production and smuggling across the US-Mexico border.

The Sinaloa cartel is probably one of Mexico’s top fentanyl traffickers to the US, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

More recently, the cartel appears to have moved into production of the drug.

In September, DEA officers took part in a “covert mission” in Sinaloa, the agency said in a statement at the time.

“Profit margins for fentanyl and methamphetamine are driving the drug trade by the cartels,” the statement said.

In April, officials raided a fentanyl laboratory in Sinaloa’s capital of Culiacán, where the younger Guzmán and his brothers control the drug trade. Law enforcement also busted a fentanyl laboratory in Mexico City last year.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse reported earlier this year that 130 people die every day in the USs after overdosing on opioids, which include prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic drugs like fentanyl.