Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera has escaped from the country’s most secure prison. Chapo disappeared on Saturday night while taking a shower in his cell. His method of escape? An elaborately built tunnel. For more details on El Chapo’s escape hit the jump!
Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera has escaped from the country’s most secure prison. Chapo disappeared on Saturday night while taking a shower in his cell. His method of escape? An elaborately built tunnel that stretched nearly a mile from the prison walls. A massive search is now underway around the prison.
According to reports, the country’s national security commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said in a press conference that authorities found the opening near the shower area shortly after Chapo was last seen, around 9PM on Saturday. Guards entered the cell only to find that Chapo was nowhere to be found. They did find a hatch with an opening that led to the escape tunnel by ladder. Chapo has a history with tunnels. His Sinaloa cartel has built tunnels at border towns to smuggle drugs, weapons, and cash into and out of the US. According to the Washington Post, US officials have found hundreds of such tunnels, some of which are similarly equipped to the tunnel that freed Chapo. A complex network of tunnels at one of his Mexican homes has also helped him evade an arrest attempts in the past. This main tunnel was about 30 feet deep, tall enough to stand in, and two feet wide. It also had PVC piping for insulation, and a lighting system. It also had what reports described as a “motorcycle-on-rails” that was used to whisk Chapo away.
The drug lord was arrested just over a year ago in Mexico. The arrest was the result of a joint effort between Mexican forces and US intelligence. The US informally sought to have Chapo extradited and held in an American prison, but Mexico decided to detain the kingpin on its side of the border. The kingpin is said to be worth as much as a billion dollars and could be responsible for 80,000 deaths over the years. US authorities say his cartel is the largest importer of cocaine and marijuana, and in recent years it’s said to be behind over 50 percent of heroin smuggled into the US.
Source||LiveLeak
