Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escaped a maximum-security prison in Mexico on July 11th.
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Valentín Cárdenas Lerma, the former director of Altiplano, and Celina Oseguera, former director of Mexico’s federal prisons, were arrested on Friday, according to CNN.
Oseguera is the most senior official arrested so far in connection with Guzman’s escape. He dropped via a hole in a shower right in to a mile-long tunnel equipped with a modified motorbike, lighting & air flow, & has not been officially seen since.
At least seven officials, including two members of Mexico’s secret service and two prison control room employees, had already been arrested, accused of not raising the alarm once Guzman had escaped.
The drug lord walked into the shower of his cell then disappeared out of sight of a surveillance camera watching him.
It did not name the suspects but said they were detained in connection with the escape.
El Chapo Guzman was jailed at the Altiplano maximum security prison in Mexico in February 2014.
It is also alleged that up to €50m in bribes may have been paid to secure his escape from prison.
Ms Oseguera was removed from her high-level post after Guzman escaped on 11 July.
The Sinaloa cartel leader escaped through a 1.5-kilometer (0.9-mile tunnel) dug to his cell. The cartel is also involved in the production and distribution of Mexican marijuana, heroin and other drugs in North America and Europe. He served only 17 months of his lengthy prison sentence. He escaped jail in 2001, and it took Mexican law enforcement 13 years to catch up with him.
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Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez has said that his country is ready to pay 60 million Mexican pesos (almost $4 million) for information on Guzman’s current whereabouts.
