Pilot of El Mayo Zambada not arrested after 2024 US flight, lawyer says

On 25 July 2024, pilot Mauro Alberto Núñez Ojeda, known as “El Jando”, flew Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada from Culiacán, Mexico, to Santa Teresa, New Mexico, where FBI agents captured Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López.

According to his lawyer Jonathan Savella, Núñez Ojeda was not arrested on the day of the flight. Savella said, “I can confirm that he was not arrested that day,” but did not disclose his whereabouts thereafter.

Núñez Ojeda is serving a mandatory minimum ten‑year sentence for trafficking more than 450 kg of cocaine and is currently held in a District of Columbia prison awaiting sentencing. The plea agreement does not mention the FBI’s “Operation Kings Air,” the operation that moved Zambada.