Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico, said on July 22 that authorities did not find any property linked to drug trafficker Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, after he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States.
In addition to the sentence, the US justice system had ordered the confiscation of US$15 million in Zambada’s assets and properties, an amount that the convicted man’s defense anticipated “there would be no way he would pay said amount.”
However, Secretary Harfuch stated that the federal government “did not find any property directly linked to Zambada.”
However, he highlighted that the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) secured a “large number” of accounts and properties of criminal organizations that could be linked to the founder of the Sinaloa cartel.
“Not specifically in his name. Yes, in the name of criminal organizations and there have been a considerable number of accounts and properties,” Harfuch said at a press conference.
With this statement, the head of the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) confirmed what was stated by El Mayo’s lawyer, Frank Pérez, who on Tuesday said in an interview with the newspaper Millennium that the US did not identify any property in its client’s name.
Regarding this seizure, the Administration of the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, asked the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to review whether the State should claim part of the US$15 million.
After hearing the sentence, the Mexican president said that she does not have a “personal opinion” and was skeptical of Zambada’s call for an end to the violence in the North American country.