MEXICAN DRUGLORD ESCAPES JAIL – AGAIN!
Slinks out pipe to escape – AGAIN Fear thug may never be caught
MEXICAN DRUG kingpin Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman escaped a maximum-security prison via a 1-mile tunnel that opened into a shower area in his cell, the country’s top security official announced Sunday.
The stunning scheme — which is a huge embarrassment for the Mexican government — is the second time Guzman has escaped prison.
The notorious head of the Sinaloa Cartel fled through an elaborate, ventilated escape hatch allegedly built without the detection of authorities at the maximum-security prison that Mexican officials vowed he’d never leave.
Eighteen employees from various parts of the Altiplano prison 55 miles west of Mexico City have been taken in for questioning, Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said in a news conference.
Guzman was last seen about 9 p.m. on Saturday in the shower area of his cell, according to a statement from the National Security Commission.
He was at some point lost by the prison’s security camera surveillance network.
Upon checking his cell, authorities found it empty and a 20-by-20-inch hole near the shower, which revealed the scope of his extraordinarily elaborate escape.
Guzman dropped by ladder into a hole 10 yards deep that connected with a tunnel about 1.7 yards high that was fully ventilated and had lighting, Rubido said.
Authorities also found 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 halfbuilt house in a rural farm field near the prison, according to radio transmissions among authorities who cordoned off the structure.
An intense manhunt was underway for the druglord, who is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said she was “concerned” by the stunning turn of events.
The U.S. had considered seeking the extradition of Guzman after he was arrested on Feb. 22, 2014, in the beach resort town of Mazatlan.
But Mexican authorities had vowed to keep him imprisoned there, despite fears he would escape as he did in 2001 while serving a 20-year sentence in the country’s other top-security prison.
If Guzman is not captured immediately, the druglord will likely be back in full command and control of the Sinaloa Cartel in 48 hours, said Michael Vigil, a retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief of international operations.
“We may never find him again,” he said. “All the accolades that Mexico has received in their counterdrug efforts will be erased by this one event.”