Wife of drug kingpin 'El Chapo' arrested on US drug charges
File photo of Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - The wife of Mexican drug kingpin and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was arrested on Monday at an airport in Virginia on international drug trafficking charges, the Justice Department said.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, who is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, was arrested at Dulles International Airport and is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.
She's accused of helping her husband escape from a Mexican prison in 2015 and was also "engaged in planning yet another prison escape" before Guzman was extradited to the U.S. in January 2017, the Justice Department said.
Guzman was sentenced to life behind bars in 2019. His Sinaloa cartel was responsible for smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors said in recent court papers.
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They also said his "army" was under orders to kidnap, torture and murder anyone who got in his way.
His wife is also accused of participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the U.S.
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