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Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been arrested on international drug trafficking charges.
According to a report from the Associated Press, Coronel is accused of helping El Chapo run the Sinaloa drug cartel and helping him plan his escape from prison in 2015.
The 31-year-old former beauty queen was arrested at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
The U.S. Justice Department charged Coronel with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana.
Coronel, who is a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, is expected to appear in federal court on Tuesday.
Coronel “has been involved in the drug trade since she was a little girl. She knows the inner workings of the Sinaloa cartel,” according to former DEA chief of international operations Mike Vigil.
There is a belief that Coronel could be willing to cooperate with autorities because of her twin daughters, which she gave birth to in 2011.
El Chapo, meanwhile, is serving a life sentence in prison after being extradited to the United States in 2017.
