Two prominent figures in Mexico's drug trade, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who is the son of his ex-partner, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, were arrested Thursday by United States law enforcement authorities in El Paso, Texas

The arrests marked one of the biggest victories for US law enforcement against the cartels, but they organised by one of the two men who were arrested on Thursday.

Joaquin, 38, who is one of the sons of EI Chapo, was behind the arranged arrest of his and El Mayo's arrest, earlier this week.

El Mayo, 76, and El Chapo, 67, are co-founders of the Sinaloa cartel which traffics drugs to more than 50 countries around the globe and is one of the two most powerful organised crime groups in Mexico, according to US authorities.

El Chapo is serving life imprisonment in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 of charges including drug trafficking, money laundering, and weapons-related offences.

How did El Mayo's arrest unfold?

The US law enforcement exploited a rift in the cartel and got the help of Joaquin in his arrest along with that of EI Mayo.

Joaquin is one of the four sons of El Chapo — known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos — who inherited their father's faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested last year and extradited to the US.

Joaquin betrayed El Mayo by luring him on a flight to examine a piece of land he thought was in Mexico, according to an official familiar with the operation, CNN reported.

Instead, the plane landed near EI Paso, Texas, where they got arrested by US law enforcement agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), CBS News reported.

"Both men were taken into custody on the tarmac. The flight and subsequent landing happened very quickly and very quietly, with no incident once the men exited the plane," a senior law enforcement official confirmed to CBS News.

Additionally, El Mayo, who usually keeps a low-profile, finally got arrested after ruling the deadly criminal organisation for four decades.