Mexico City, Oct 18 (IANS) The Mexican government has confirmed the capture of the son of notorious cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera in the Mexicancity of Culiacan.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 28, was arrested on Thursday afternoon at a house along with three other people by a 30-member patrol of the National Guard and the Ministry of National Defense, Alfonso Durazo, head of Mexico's Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection, said.

Durazo, in charge of the security cabinet of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's government, said that Guzman was captured at 3.30 p.m. after the officers were assaulted from a house while conducting a routine patrol, reports Efe news.

He said that security forces repelled the attack and took control of this house, where one of them was identified as El Chapo's son, Durazo added.

Guzman Jr faces charges in the US for allegedly trafficking in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.

El Chapo is currently serving a life sentence at a federal maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado, considered one of the securest penitentiaries in the US and the world.

--IANS ksk