Known as “El Chapo”, he was taken to a prison near Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso in Texas, as part of a normal rotation of prisoners for security reasons, officials said.
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Notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was transferred Saturday from the Altiplano maximum-security prison outside Mexico City to a prison just south of the Texas border, AFP reports. A Mexican security official acknowledges that the sudden transfer in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday was to a less-secure prison.
According to officials, Guzman was transferred at 1:30 a.m. local time, and flown to Ciudad Juarez in the custody of military and federal agents.
The facility in Ciudad Juarez was constructed within the last five years.
His lawyer, Juan Pablo Badillo, said Guzman was moved on Saturday night, but was not sure why.
But the United States has been preparing for Guzman’s transfer for months and have been hammering out the security details, American officials said.
Recaptured drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers in Mexico City.
It’s not yet clear what’s going on, but with “El Chapo” Guzman – nicknamed “the master of tunnels” for his subterranean proclivities – it’s usually more than meets the eye.
He previously escaped from a high-security prison after reportedly bribing prison staff in January 2001 but the most recent breakout occurred on 11 July, 2015, when the inmate escaped through a mile-long tunnel dug from under his cell shower. He said he believed Guzman would be moved to the United States in a matter of weeks.
Although not classified as a maximum-security prison, it has a section for highly risky prisoners that is “one of the safest”, a National Security Commission source said. Vigil, who said he had been briefed by Mexican officials, did not specify those concerns or say whether Mexican officials had information about possible new escape plots.
MEXICO CITY (AP) The northern Mexico prison where authorities suddenly transferred convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is rated as the worst in the federal penitentiary system for inmate conditions and other factors, according to the government’s own reporting.
Multiple analysts told The Associated Press that there was no sign of a link between the prison switch and extradition.
“The decision to have him brought here is because there will be no escape”, Duarte told reporters.
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Officially, Murillo Karam said Guzman would not be extradited until he finished serving his time in Mexico, a sentiment echoed by the ambassador to the United States, Eduardo Medina-Mora. Guzmán was placed under constant observation from a ceiling camera with no blind spots, and the floors of top-security cells were reinforced with metal bars and a 16-inch layer of concrete.
