Grillo is a longtime journalist working and living in Mexico who wrote “El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency”.
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Escaped… Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman at the time of his arrest a year ago.
After a daring prison escape on Saturday night – the second brazen escape from prison in 15 years – El Chapo is being hunted by Mexican authorities.
Representatives from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration met Mexican law enforcement officials in Mexico City on Monday to share information, the government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Riley said Guzman vanished just as US prosecutors, with indictments against Guzman in several states, including California and Illinois, “had in place the documents” to seek the cartel leader’s extradition from Mexico to face federal charges in this country.
The sources, who work inside the prison, also mentioned that the noise created from this project could have helped to provide the flawless cover for the drug baron Guzman, to drill his own way out of his prison cell, by creating a 1.5 kilometer tunnel, without arising suspicion.
It’s likely the Sinaloa cartel had spent years infiltrating the country’s prison system, a Mexican official told CNN on Monday.
He goes back into the shower and bends down again behind the wall – but never resurfaces. Of particular interest, he said, is Guzman’s wife, who the cartel chieftain may use to pass on his orders.
REUTERS/Edgard Garrido National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido shows security footage of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman moments before escaping, during a news conference in Mexico City, Mexico, July 14, 2015.
Rubido said Guzman was last seen at 8.52pm, without indicating how long it took for prison guards to sound the alarm. One of the Guzman indictments has been filed in Chicago. Floors that meet cell regulations might have hindered the drug linchpin’s escape, but is is uncertain as to whether thicker, reinforced floors alone could have entirely prevented the escape.
Osorio Chong also said much of the excavated dirt, which he described as fine and thin, may simply have been scattered or compacted at the site.
Guzman has been a nightmare for both sides of the border.
“By far they are the most infiltrated in Mexico’s government institutions”, he said. A Twitter account, allegedly belonging to Guzman or a family member, sent threatening tweets to Trump in response.
Engineers would have had to remove more than 3,500 tonnes of earth to dig the tunnel, which is thought to have taken nearly a year to complete.
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His fortune is estimated at more than $1billion (£640m), according to Forbes magazine – which listed him among the “World’s Most Powerful People” and ranked him above the presidents of France and Venezuela.
