IT Specialist Was Crucial in the Capture of Drug Lord El Chapo

An IT specialist who developed an encrypted communication system for El Chapo played a decisive role in the capture of the notorious drug lord.

According to the New York Times, a Colombian IT expert named Christian Rodriguez, who had created a secure communication channel for Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the head of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, was recruited by an FBI agent in 2010. The agent, posing as a Russian mobster, claimed he wanted to buy a similar encrypted system to communicate with his associates without fear of law enforcement eavesdropping.

Less than a year later, the FBI had access to around 200 recorded calls in which El Chapo discussed large-scale drug deals and bribes to Mexican officials. These hours-long recordings became some of the most significant evidence presented at El Chapo’s recent trial, and they represent the largest wiretap operation against a criminal suspect since the days of Italian mafia boss John Gotti.

How the Operation Unfolded

The details of this wiretap operation only became public recently, when FBI agent Stephen Marston testified at El Chapo’s trial. According to Marston, the turning point in the investigation was convincing Rodriguez to cooperate with U.S. authorities. In 2011, Rodriguez handed over the encryption keys to the FBI, allowing agents to decrypt the cartel’s conversations.

To avoid suspicion, Rodriguez had to move his servers from Canada to the Netherlands, telling the cartel it was just a routine upgrade. From April 2011 to January 2012, with the help of Dutch police, the FBI intercepted 1,500 calls. By comparing voice samples from these calls with other recordings, including El Chapo’s 2015 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, experts confirmed the voice was indeed Guzmán Loera’s.

This unprecedented cooperation between law enforcement and a tech insider was instrumental in bringing down one of the world’s most infamous drug lords.