/ Modified jan 12, 2016 10:16 a.m.

Will Capture of 'El Chapo' Change Arizona Drug Traffic?

DEA officials say Sinaloa drug cartel responsible for nearly all heroin import from Mexico

Chapo Guzman SPOT
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Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán is again behind bars in Mexico. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials say Guzman, as leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, is responsible for nearly all the heroin that comes into Arizona from Mexico.

In Arizona, DEA agents want Guzmán extradited to the U.S., in part, because the agency feels he will escape again from Mexican custody and because his cartel is the biggest supplier of heroin into the state.

"99.99 percent of it is all Sinaloa." Arizona DEA official Erica Curry. "Very, very rarely do we get impacted by any other cartel. Generally speaking almost 100 percent of the stuff that comes in is Sinaloa-related. “

Guzmán has escaped twice from high-security Mexican prisons. Former FBI agent Art Fontes, who spent 28 years tracking Guzman, says this time he will likely be extradited. The U.S. wants him, says Fontes because of what the drug king pin knows.

"I believe that he has a lot of inside information about corruption at the highest levels in the Mexican government, among the military-political and business people,” Fontes said.

Arizona DEA officials said getting Guzmán off the streets will have a minimal impact on heroin crossing the Arizona border. His generals have already assumed much of his power and influence. More important, they say, will be the information he can supply to U.S. investigators should he be extradited.

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