Daughter of renegade drug lord offers no clues to his whereabouts

Alejandrina Guzman Salazar was held on an immigration charge

The daughter of one of the world's most sought-after drug lords didn't offer information that might lead to her father's capture after she was detained on an immigration charge, a US official said yesterday.

Alejandrina Gisselle Guzman Salazar was charged on Monday with fraud and misuse of visas, three days after authorities arrested her at the country's busiest border crossing in San Diego, California.

An official who asked to remain anonymous said Ms Salazar has been "a dead end" in the search for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the elusive leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel.

Border inspectors interviewed Ms Salazar for about 30 minutes, during which time she admitted that Guzman was her father and that she was six months pregnant, the official said. She didn't say why she offered the information but the official speculated that she may have thought authorities would be reluctant to bear the additional costs of holding someone with special medical needs.

Ms Salazar's mother is Maria Alejandrina Hernandez Salazar, the official said. The US Treasury described Hernandez Salazar as Guzman's wife when it imposed financial sanctions on her in June.

The charge said Guzman Salazar attempted to enter the country on foot on Friday, impersonating someone with a non-immigrant visa contained in a Mexican passport. It said a fingerprint scan indicated that she was in a US government database of previous immigration violators.