Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán the Drug Lord Escapes From Mexican High-Security Prison

 

 

U.S. law-enforcement’s worst nightmare just came true: Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán Loera, the world’s most dangerous drug trafficker, escaped from a high-security prison, Mexico’s National Security Commission said Sunday.

The statement from the National Security Commission said that, at 8:52 Saturday evening, surveillance cameras at the Altiplano federal prison saw Guzmán approaching a shower area in which prisoners also wash their belongings.

When Guzmán was not seen again for some time, officials checked his cell, found it empty, and issued an alert. National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido, said that Guzmán escaped through a 1,500-meter tunnel located near the shower area.

Altiplano is a maximum security prison in the state of Mexico, that borders with Mexico City.

Mexican officials said that they launched a manhunt and closed Toluca International Airport, a 45-minute drive away.

Guzmán was arrested in February of 2014 after 13 years on the run and had been in a maximum security prison alledgely under 24-hour watch. This is the second time he has broken out of prison.

Guzmán’s escape is a set-back for the government of Peña Nieto, who has vowed to rid the country of the pervasive drug cartels. Government officials had insisted Guzmán could not escape.

In January, the Obama Administration sent the Mexican government an extradition request for Guzmán, but Mexico’s Attorney General Office refused to extradite him to the U.S. where he has more than half a dozen criminal indictments pending against him.

Guzmán escaped from a high-security prison in 2001 allegedly in a laundery cart, and was not apprehended until February, 2014, when he was arrested in Mazatlán, a port city in his native Sinaloa state. During 13 years, no action by the Mexican or U.S. governments against Guzmán, including targeting his multimillion dollar money laundering operation to squeeze his finances, had been successful.

Guzmán’s long-time success as the U.S.’s #1 supplier of illegal drugs –as the head of the Sinaloa cartel — is attributed to his extraordinary entrepreneurial skills and his immense power to bribe corrupt Mexican officials. Guzmán was dropped from Forbes World’s Most Powerful People List in 2014.

 Source: Forbes.com