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| El Chapo |
Infamous drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who humiliated authorities when he tunnelled out of a maximum-security prison in July, has been captured, Mexico's president said Friday.
"Mission accomplished," Enrique Pena Nieto said on Twitter. "We have him."
Guzmán, the leader of the country's most powerful drug cartel, was captured Friday morning by Mexican troops in the town of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa, according to the Mexican news site Animal Político. The arrest was part of a joint operation with the military that had led to a shootout with suspected Sinoloa cartel members earlier that day, the Mexican magazine Proceso reported. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested, according to the statement.
Guzman faces charges in numerous jurisdictions across the United States. While the Justice Department doesn't comment on extradition requests, a senior official said: "I can confirm that it is the practice of the United States to seek extradition whenever defendants subject to US charges are apprehended in another country."
Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel and a master of underground tunnels, set off a furious manhunt on July 11 when he casually slipped into a hole in his shower at Altiplano prison near Mexico City and fled through a mile-long tunnel outfitted with a motorbike that led to a residential construction site. The Hollywood-style escape was a huge embarrassment for Mexican officials — in particular because Guzman and his organization were known for building tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border. Guzman had escaped from prison once before, in 2001, purportedly hidden in a laundry cart.
Since the Altiplano escape, 23 prison officials and employees have been arrested, and several of Guzman's Sinaloa underlings have been rounded up. The getaway damaged relations between Mexican and American anti-drug authorities, who had warned that Guzman's associates would try to break him out of Altiplano (You can read the story here).
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