The Mysterious Flight of El Mayo & Joaquin Part 2: What is Now Claimed

 ”Socalj” for Borderland Beat

Read The First Part Here

One week ago, we reported on the details of the Beechcraft King Air that delivered Isamael “El Mayo” Zambada-Garcia and Joaquin Guzman Lopez to US authorities. Initially, Mexico’s President and Security Secratary claimed incorrectly, based on the Santa Teresa, New Mexico flight records that day that the plane was an older Cessna 250 owned and piloted by Larry Curtis Parker.

We saw from multiple news and local sources as well as photos of the seized aircraft that this was incorrect. However, no record of the Beechcraft with registration number N287KA flew into the US that day, let alone from Mexico.

Further details have emerged from Reforma reported Peniley Ramirez who initially spoke to the Cessna’s pilot that the Beechcraft was flown from Culiacan, Sinaloa; not from Sonoroa or Chihuaha as reported prior. She also claims that the plane is owned by Joaquin and the registration numbers were vinyl numbers placed on the plane rather than painted on like the rest of the graphics.

According to the Reforma article, the real plane that carried Joaquín Guzmán and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada left for the United States from Culiacán, Sinaloa, not Sonora. 

That runway is an important air gateway that connects legal flights between some places in Chihuahua and Sinaloa with the most intricate areas of the Golden Triangle. Many people who avoid hours of dangerous and intricate roads arrive at El Zorrillo by air. In my reporting, I also found there that sometimes illegal flights land or take off, for which there is no record, or planes without documents, with covered or changed numbers.

It is difficult to know if the same plane that was in El Zorrillo a few days earlier is the one that took Guzmán and “El Mayo” from Sinaloa to New Mexico on July 25. First, because in the video from a few days before it is observed that the plane was able to land in El Zorrillo with the numbers were covered, a violation of aeronautical regulations. And second, because on the day of the “Mayo” flight, the plane flew to the United States with a duplicate registration.

A King Air 250 with the same registration number confirmed in South America in 2017 with a different Beechcraft paint scheme. The tips on the wings are also not seen in the aircraft seized in the US.

Cloned Aircraft

The seized King Air with the same number, but in vinyl lettering.

Vinyl adhesive registration numbers are prohibited, they must be painted on for legal reasons.

Closeups show the graphics are painted across the plane.

The plane with the real registration number N287KA, that day, was in fact flying in Texas. He had not been to Mexico since February, when he flew between Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Laredo.

Peniley Ramirez was able to obtain the seized plane’s serial number to identify the true origin and past owners of the aircraft:

“And with that, I tracked down his history in public records. Until 2013, a plane with that same serial number was flying with a US registration. That year, it was sold to a Mexican financial company. It was assigned a Mexican license plate. During these years, according to public records, the plane has been property of that company, and its main airport has been Xala-pa, Veracruz. At least, that’s how it was in the most recent record I found, from September 2023.”

“That plane was even under an investigation by the National Electoral Institute on the use of aircraft in Veracruz. This particular serial number was related to a company, domiciled in Coatzacoalcos, that provided airplanes to PRI politicians.”

“In the photos of the planes, the one that arrived in New Mexico and the one domiciled in Xalapa, you can see some differences, although they have the same serial number. The authorities have not been able to explain this either.”

“Now, Mexican authorities are trying to investigate how the flight to New Mexico occurred, what the history of that plane was and how it came to be used by Guzmán and Zambada. The investigation reflects a larger problem that the authorities have not explained: how drug trafficking can use commercial airplanes, officially registered, and others with covered, duplicate license plates, without a flight plan.”

The exact location from which the plane that took ‘El Mayo’ and Joaquín Guzmán López to New Mexico took off is still officially unknown, as is the identity and nationality pilot and the flight plan.

The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) opened investigation file 1882/24 in the state of Sonora, in order to clarify the origin and destination of the aircraft in which they traveled to the United States. The governor of Sonora, Alfonso Durazo, and the state Public Security Secretariat have reiterated that they do not have information about any similar flight, so they have ruled out that the drug traffickers departed from Sonora.

The other still unanswered question is if “El Mayo” came to the US and surrendered willingly or was forced to by Joaquin Guzman Lopez and/or other figures.

DEA Official Claims Mayo Surrendered

Frank Perez, “El Mayo’s” attorney representing him in initial hearings in El Paso, Texas claimed multiple times that his client was kidnapped and taken to the US against his will. Further reports claimed that the longtime Sinaloa Cartel leader was lured into a meeting and detained at gunpoint by men in military uniforms before being taken to the airstrip and tied to his seat in the plane. Large zip ties were seen in photos inside the plane; however it is not visible if they had been used and cut off of Mayo.

A new report from Proceso, claiming information from a senior DEA official that he arrived willingly.

“I’ve arrived,” was what El Mayo allegedly said when the Beechcraft King Air plane landed at the municipal airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, according to what a DEA official told Proceso on the day of the arrests.

“There were negotiations and conversations prior to the plane’s arrival. Our agents, along with colleagues from the FBI, were waiting for it in Santa Teresa,” said the senior official from the DEA.

That DEA official was also the first who confirmed to Proceso the arrest of “El Mayo.”

“We never imagined that we would be able to arrest “El Mayo”. He never left his hiding places in the mountains of the Golden Triangle (between Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa) and on many occasions he suspended the contacts we had with him directly through intermediaries,” said the senior DEA official.

The agreed delivery of “El Mayo” to US authorities, according to the official, was carried out through intermediaries; among them Jesús “El Vicentillo” Vicente Zambada Niebla.

“US officials also quietly negotiated with Mr. Zambada García on his potential surrender for at least three years, with interruptions, although these negotiations eventually came to nothing,” reported the New York Times. It was around three years ago that Vincentillo allegedly entered the US Witness Protection Program.

Sources Proceso, Penily Ramirez, Borderland Beat