Mauro Núñez Ojeda, the cartel pilot who flew El Chapo’s sons, finally identified by U.S. authorities

Mauro Alberto Núñez Ojeda, known within the cartel as “Jando,” began his criminal career as a teenage drug mule before being sent to flight school and eventually commanding the Sinaloa cartel’s aerial operations. He reported directly to Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and managed a diverse fleet that included Cessnas, Pipers and a Beechcraft King Air used in the July 2024 kidnapping of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. While U.S. agents arrested Joaquín Guzmán López and Zambada at the border, they did not detain the pilot, who slipped back to Mexico.

Court filings later detailed his responsibilities for transporting senior cartel members, moving weapons, and delivering large cocaine shipments, noting a payment of $200,000 for a 880-pound cocaine run from Costa Rica in 2017. In January 2025, a grand jury indictment formally charged him with drug conspiracy, marking the first legal acknowledgment of his role. Authorities continue to investigate his involvement in the Zambada kidnapping and broader cartel activities.