El Chapo's wife Emma Coronel arrested on drug charges

Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Mexico's most notorious cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, has been arrested in Virginia on drug trafficking charges.

In a statement Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice said Coronel, 31 — who is a U.S.-Mexican citizen — was arrested at Dulles International Airport and was scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court on Tuesday by videoconference.

Coronel is charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana for importation into the United States, according to court documents.

She was also charged with allegedly conspiring to help engineer Guzmán's spectacular escape through a mile-long tunnel from Mexico's Altiplano high-security prison in July 2015. According to the release:

After Guzmán was re-arrested in Mexico in January 2016, Colonel Aispuro allegedly planned another prison escape with others before Guzmán's extradition to the United States in January 2017.

Throughout the trial, Coronel attended court every day, even when the evidence included text messages between her husband and one of his mistresses.

Before her husband's sentencing, she told a sympathetic TV interviewer that Guzmán was a “humble” man and complained that the media had made El Chapo “too famous,” as reported by The Guardian UK.

Emma Coronel was born in Santa Clara, California, and is the daughter of Ines Coronel Barreras, a mid-ranking lieutenant in the Sinaloa Cartel.

She grew up in the “Golden Triangle” of Mexico's Sierra Madre and is said to have met Guzmán at a local festival. She was 17 at the time and Guzmán was 51.

The couple have nine-year-old twins.

El Chapo kept a low profile despite his fame, with his wife seeking the spotlight. She launched a clothing line, with some items sporting El Chapo's familiar mustachioed face, and attempted to establish herself as a social media influencer with a carefully curated Instagram feed.