Notorious
drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera has been recaptured six
months after his elaborate escape from a Mexican maximum security
prison.
Mexican
marines captured El Chapo, which means 'the short one' in Spanish,
during a raid in the town of Los Mochis, located in the kingpin's
home state of Sinaloa.
Five
cartel gangsters were killed and another six were arrested in the
raid, while one Mexican marine sustained non-life-threatening
injuries. A vast arsenal of weapons was siezed, including rocket
launchers, machine guns and armored vehicles.
El
Chapo had earlier escaped from a nearby house which came under fire
from marines as the net closed on the cartel leader, Mexican
officials revealed.
Mexican
police say the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals
aided in El Chapo's recapture. It is not yet clear whether El Chapo
will be extradited to the US, but he was seen being bundled on to a
plane by security officials on Friday afternoon.
Mexican
President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote on his Twitter account on Friday:
'Mission accomplished: We have him.'
The
raid also ended in the capture of El Chapo's right-hand man 'El
Cholo', a hitman who was also on the run from the law.
Mexican
officials revealed that a firefight at a house in Los Mochis earlier
on Friday was related to the raid that saw fugitive El Chapo
recaptured.
He
is believed to have fled under the cover of gunfire from his henchmen
before being arrested later at a motel alongside his most-trusted
bodyguard.
The
cartel boss was wearing a dirty vest when he was arrested, which
showed off several fresh scratches on his arms.
In
one picture, El Chapo stands in a bedroom, where a photo of a
scantily-clad woman hangs in the background - his hands shackled in
handcuffs in front of him as he stares off to the side of the camera.
In
the other photo, he sits in a car with his right-hand man, with his
hand held up to his chin in thought.
The
man seen slumped alongside el Chapo in the back of the police van is
his chief hitman Orso Iván Gastélum Cruz, known as 'El Cholo' - a
nickname commonly used to refer to young people in Mexican gangs.
LIke
El Chapo he too was on the run, having escaped from prison in 2009.
His
girlfriend, the winner of Miss Sinaloa 2012 was gunned down and
killed by the army during a manhunt for him in 2012.
The
Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided
a motel in the town of Los Mochis around 4:30am. They were fired on
from inside the structure.
A
Mexican law enforcement official said authorities located El Chapo
several days ago, based on reports that he was in Los Mochis, which
is 1,300 miles north west of the high security Altiplano prison he
escaped from. The official says authorities even searched storm
drains in the coastal city.
At
an afternoon press conference, the Mexican president announced El
Chapo's arrest and thanked those who spent months tracking down the
criminal.
'Today,
Mexico confirms that its institutions have the capabilities that are
necessary to face and overcome anyone who threatens the tranquility
of Mexican families,' Nieto said.
El
Chapo's arrest 'demonstrates that when Mexicans work together, there
is no adversity that can not be overcome', he added.
Nieto
had earlier tweeted: 'My appreciation to the Security Cabinet of
the Government of the Republic for this important achievement for the
rule of law in Mexico.'
At
the hideout, marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one
handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Photos
of the arms seized suggested that Guzman and his associates had a
fearsome arsenal at the non-descript white building in which he was
hiding.
Two
of the rifles seized were .50-caliber sniper guns, capable of
penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher
was found loaded, with an extra round nearby. And an assault rifle
had a .40 mm grenade launcher, and at least one grenade.
HITMAN
'EL CHOLO' WAS ALSO ON THE RUN AND HIS BEAUTY QUEEN GIRLFRIEND WAS
KILLED DURING 2012 MANHUNT
El
Chapo was detained alongside his right-hand man El Cholo, a notorious
hitman who was also on the run from jail.
The
drug lord's number two escaped from prison on 2009 and had been in
hiding since, and it is likely he was aware of - or was even involved
in - his boss's daring escape last year. Below is the videos of how
he was taken to prison by Mexican authorities in Helicopter and his
eventual escape from prison through a high wired tunnel digging that
was had a motorbike stationed in the tunnel.
El
Cholo's real name is Orso Iván Gastélum Cruz and his nickname
is commonly used to refer to young people in Mexican gangs.
His
former girlfriend Maria Susana Flores Gamez, a 20-year-old Mexican
beauty queen, was killed in a raid by the Mexican army in 2012 - the
same year she won Miss Sinaloa.
She
was in the company of dangerous drug traffickers when she died and
her body was found laying next to an assault rifle.
A
Twitter account that has previously been linked to El Chapo, which
uses the handle @ElChap0Guzman, posted two tweets two days before the
drug lord's capture.
The
first, translated from Mexican, said he was 'busy and happy' and
enjoying life with his children. A second said he loved his family
and valued people who loved them, but that 'everyone else can go f***
their mothers'.
Guzman
faces multiple federal drug trafficking indictments in the U.S. as
well as Mexico, and was on the DEA's most-wanted list.
The
DEA says it was 'extremely pleased' with El Chapo's recapture. On its
Twitter account, the agency congratulated Mexico's government on
catching Guzman, saying it saluted 'the bravery involved in his
capture'.
After
Guzman was arrested on February 22, 2014, the U.S. said it would file
an extradition request, though it's not clear if that happened.
The
Mexican government at the time vehemently denied the need to
extradite Guzman, even as many expressed fears he would escape as he
did in 2001 while serving a 20-year sentence in the country's other
top-security prison, Puente Grande, in the western state of
Jalisco.
It
is unclear if the Mexican government will extradite El Chapo, given
his most recent escape. El Chapo is wanted in the states of Arizona,
California, Texas, Illinois, New York and Florida.
He
is the first 'public enemy number one' since Al Capone in Chicago,
where authorities have demanded he is handed over to the US.
J.
R. Davis, president of the Chicago Crime Commission, said: 'The two
escapes by Guzman demonstrate that even the most 'high security'
Mexican prisons are not equipped to hold Guzman.'
The
Justice Department had no immediate comment on whether it will push
for extradition.
U.S.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch called El Chapo's recapture 'a victory
for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States, and a
vindication of the rule of law in our countries'.
In
a statement, Lynch said Guzman 'will now have to answer for his
alleged crimes' and congratulated Mexico's government, but did not
directly address the sticky issue of extradition.
Senator
John McCain tweeted his congratulations to the Mexican authorities
and added: 'Now let's extradite him to the US.'
El
Chapo has been on the run since July, when he used an elaborate
underground tunnel to break out of a maximum-security prison in
central Mexico.
Altiplano,
considered the most secure of Mexico's federal prisons, also houses
Zetas drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Trevino, and Edgar Valdes
Villarreal, known as 'La Barbie,' of the Beltran Leyva cartel.
Guzman
dropped by ladder into a hole 30ft deep that connected with another
5ft-high tunnel, which was fully ventilated and had lighting.
Authorities
also found tools, oxygen tanks and a motorcycle adapted to run on
rails that they believe was used to carry dirt out and tools in
during the construction.
The
tunnel terminated in a half-built house in a farm field.
Guzman's
cartel is known for building elaborate tunnels beneath the
Mexico-U.S. border to transport cocaine, methamphetamines and
marijuana, with ventilation, lighting and even railcars to easily
move products.
Since
El Chapo broke out of jail in July, Mexican police and military have
been desperately tracking the cartel boss.
In
September, authorities thought El Chapo escaped the country to Costa
Rica, after one of his sons posted a photo to Twitter tagging their
location in the Central American country. But authorities were
unsuccessful in finding him.
The
next month, marines tracked El Chapo down to a mountainous region in
Sinaloa.
Soldiers
engaged in a shootout with El Chapo and his cartel thugs, and he got
away yet again.
However,
at the time it was reported that El Chapo appeared to have broken his
leg fleeing from authorities.
This
is the second time that El Chapo has been recaptured after using his
influence to break out of prison.
He
was first caught by authorities in Guatemala in 1993, extradited and
sentenced to 20 years in prison on drug-trafficking-related charges.
He
is believed to have escaped in 2001 in a laundry cart, although there
have been several versions of how he got away. What is clear is that
he had help from prison guards, who were prosecuted and convicted.
During
his first stint as a fugitive, Guzman transformed himself into
arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world. His fortune
was estimated at more than $1billion, according to Forbes magazine,
which listed him among the 'World's Most Powerful People,' ranked
above the presidents of France and Venezuela.
He
was finally tracked down to a modest beachside high-rise in the
Pacific Coast resort city of Mazatlan, where he had been hiding with
his wife and twin daughters.
He
was captured in the early morning of February 22, 2014, without a
shot being fired.
Before
they reached him, security forces went on a several-day chase through
Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state. They found houses where
Guzman supposedly had been staying with steel-enforced doors and the
same kind of lighted, ventilated escape tunnels.
Born
58 years ago, according to Interpol, he and his allies took control
of the Sinaloa faction when a larger syndicate began to fall apart in
1989.
Even
after his 2014 capture, Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel empire continues to
stretch throughout North America and reaches as far as Europe and
Australia.
The
cartel has been heavily involved in the bloody drug war that has torn
through parts of Mexico for the last decade, taking an estimated
100,000 lives or more.
Below
is the video of his recapture being taken away to yet an unknown
destination.
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