By Steve Neavling
A hacker working for drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán helped the Sinaloa Cartel track an FBI agent and monitor potential informants, according to a federal watchdog report released Thursday.
The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General said the cartel used the hacker’s surveillance tools in 2018 to intimidate or kill individuals cooperating with U.S. law enforcement during El Chapo’s criminal trial in Brooklyn, USA Today reports.
The hacker reportedly gained access to surveillance footage from Mexico City, monitored the movements of the FBI’s assistant legal attaché at the U.S. Embassy, and tapped into the agent’s phone records, the report found. That agent had been assisting with the high-profile case against Guzmán, who was later sentenced to life in prison.
Cartel operatives allegedly used that data to identify and threaten potential witnesses, the report said, though it did not disclose how many were harmed.
The Inspector General’s audit warned that technological advances have made it easier for criminal organizations to exploit surveillance vulnerabilities and called for additional FBI training to counter the threat.
Federal officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for El Chapo also could not be reached.
