Wife of ‘El Chapo’ arrested in Virginia on international drug trafficking charges

The wife of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was arrested on Monday in Virginia and charged with alleged involvement in international drug trafficking.

Emma Coronel Aispuro was arrested on Monday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia outside of Washington, D.C., the Justice Department confirmed in a statement.

Aispuro, a dual citizen of Mexico and the U.S., is charged with “participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana for importation into the U.S.,” according to the Justice Department.

She also allegedly conspired to assist in Guzmán’s 2015 escape from the Altiplano maximum-security prison in Mexico and helped plan other prison escapes before Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. in January 2017. 

Guzmán was sentenced to life plus 30 years in a U.S. prison in 2019. He was found guilty of charges including narcotics trafficking, using a firearm in furtherance of his drug crimes and participating in a money laundering conspiracy in his decades-long role as the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Prior to his trial in the U.S., he twice broke out of Mexican maximum-security prisons. 

Aispuro is scheduled to make her first appearance in federal court on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Her appearance will be conducted via videoconference.