SAN DIEGO _ The brother of a leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel was indicted on drug smuggling charges after his arrest at the border in Nogales, Ariz., the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego said.
A grand jury indictment filed in San Diego federal court charges Alvaro Lopez Nunez, 38, and five associates with supplying drugs to smugglers and bringing drugs into the U.S. themselves from May 2005 to August 2016.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Lopez Nunez at a port of entry in Nogales on Thursday, the U.S. attorney's office said. He was indicted in a federal court in Tucson Friday and is expected to be extradited to San Diego to face the charges.
Loez Nunez' nephew, Damaso Lopez Serrano, was arrested July 27. He is said to be the godson of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Lopez Serrano, 29, turned himself in to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the border in Calexico and faces the same drug smuggling charges as his uncle.
An associate, Nahum Abraham Sicairos Montalvo, 29, is also charged in the federal indictment filed in August 2016. He was arrested by Mexican authorities July 31, according to Mexican news reports.
Three other defendants are considered fugitives, the U.S. attorney's office said.
In May, Lopez Nunez's brother, Damaso Lopez Nunez, was arrested by Mexican authorities at a high-rise in Mexico City.
Damaso Lopez Nunez and his son, Damaso Lopez Serrano, both face drug smuggling charges in a separate case in Virginia.
The father, known as "El Licenciado," or the Graduate, was reputed to one of Guzman's top leaders in the Sinaloa cartel. He is expected to be extradited the U.S. to face charges in Virginia.
