On its Twitter account, the DEA congratulated Mexico’s government on nabbing Guzman, who escaped from a maximum-security prison six months ago, and said it salutes “the bravery involved in his capture”.
Advertisement
Guzman was one of the most powerful drug lords in the world, amassing a $1 billion fortune before he was captured in Mazatlan in February 2014.
Mexican President Enrique Pe?a Nieto took to twitter to announce Guzman’s arrest.
“Mission accomplished. We have him”.
“I have an urgent plea for the president of the United States to call President Nieto to spray those poppy fields in Mexico because people are dying at a rate of 30 a day in the United States from heroin overdoses”, Bensinger said.
USA officials were aware of the operation to capture Guzman, according to a law enforcement official.
In U.S. indictments, the organization has been accused of using assassins and hit squads to maintain its control. During his recapture, five people reportedly were killed in a shootout in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and many people have been left wondering whether the former fugitive could be extradited to the United States.
The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines raided a home after receiving a tip about armed men there. The house raid uncovered a large arsenal of weapons, including sniper guns and a grenade launcher.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it was “extremely pleased” with the news. Guzman’s escape was a major embarrassment for the president Peña Nieto and his government.
Guzman faces charges in multiple different jurisdictions across the United States. While a court order issued in August cleared the way for Guzman’s extradition to the U.S., that order was overridden in October, when a Mexican judge extended the Sinaloa leader’s exemption from being extradited.
Mexico’s government has been offering a reward of 60 million pesos, or about $3.5 million dollars, for Guzman’s recapture after he made his second escape from a maximum security prison through an underground tunnel in July 2015.
Irregardless, U.S. officials can sort that out shortly as they will likely be meeting with El Needs a Bath soon, as Mexico has promised to extradite him up north should he ever be captured again.
El Chapo had been on the run since he fled down a man-made tunnel dug in his cell at maximum security prison Altiplano prison.
After Guzman’s previous arrest in 2014, Mexico said it would try him itself before considering his extradition to the US, where he’s been indicted in at least five cities. He was found in a condo with his wife and their young twin daughters.
The rumors surrounding Guzman, many of which sprouted during his previous 12 years on the lam, are numerous: With the money he had, he could be hiding anywhere in the world.
Guzman stunned the nation last summer when he stepped into the shower in his cell in the most secure wing of one of the most secure prisons in Mexico and vanished in full view of a video camera.
Born on April 4, 1957 to a family of farmers, Guzman was recruited by Guadalajara cartel boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, the godfather of Mexico’s modern drug cartels.
Advertisement
The mustachioed drug lord married an 18-year-old beauty queen, Emma Coronel, in 2007 and is believed to have 10 children with various women.
