Top Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, known as El Chapo or "Shorty", has escaped from a maximum security prison for a second time, officials say.

In a statement, Mexico's National Security Commission said Guzman was last seen in the showers of the Altiplano jail late on Saturday night.

He was the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, which smuggles huge amounts of illegal drugs into the US.

His recapture in 2014 was hailed as a victory for Mexico's government.

Officials say that Guzman's escape was discovered when officers checked his cell in the Altiplano prison, which is near Mexico City.

A search operation has been launched and flights have been suspended at a nearby Toluca airport.

Guzman escaped from a Mexican high-security prison in 2001. He hid in a laundry basket after bribing prison officials.

He had been serving a sentence of more than 20 years after being arrested in Guatemala in 1993.

The US has indicted him on federal drug trafficking charges.

His arrest last year was a success story for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. At the time of his arrest Guzman was paraded before the media in Mexico City.

World's most wanted

Guzman was born in the town of Badiraguato, probably 57 years ago, and became an important figure in the drug cartels of the 1980s.

His rise to head of the Sinaloa cartel made him the world's most wanted drug trafficker.

The cartel controls much of the flow of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine to the US.

Before his recapture in 2014, the US state department had offered a reward of up to $5m (£3.2m) for information leading to his arrest.

His wealth is estimated at $1bn (£630m).

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33497301

Let's just catch him again & let him out the back window once the world's media have gone

Holy shit!!!

The Mexican Government have got egg on their face BIG TIME.

I bet the insiders got payed millions of dollars to help him escape.

Go Guzman!!! Show David Sweat & Richard Matt HOW IT'S DONE.

EDIT: His buddy Ismael Zambada García probably built a tunnel underneath the prison to aid his escape.

Legendary shit lol. Also he's gotta be worth over a billion by now.

Wow this is crazy, the US wanted to extradite him to NY for a trial. Mexican government certainly looks foolish now

It's a work. The Mexican government and perhaps even elements our CIA & ATF are in cahoots with Guzman.

Is this fake? The USA officials are gonna be pissed. Heads rolling.

The US should have demanded they turn him over to us immediately. The Mexicans are an absolute joke.

Wow it true mile long tunnel with a motor cycle or like a roller coaster ride in it. No one snitched it must have took 1000 guys to make. The narco songs they'll sing for chapo. Best the 3 singers about Heisenberg in breaking bad.

Sigh.

Demand they turn over a Meixcan citizen convicted of crimes in Mexico to the US?

Lets flip that round Ivy:
Imagine Mexico demanding the US turn over an American citizen convicted of crimes in America to Mexico?



Thats what I thought.

Sonny sounds crazy....watch ! I bet there will be some circumstance or technicality that the US will use to get him locked up right here in America ....it will be a cash deal "but the public will not know about that for a other twenty years..

Are you sure those pipe things were used in the construction of the tunnel?

There was reports of some construction, large ditches being dug out and metal pipes being laid down around the prison which could have helped their tunnel avoid detection.

I know nothing about engineering and digging tunnels but it seems a bit of a stretch dragging those pipe things through hundreds of metres of tunnel.

It would actually be a good idea to lock up all big-time criminals in foreign countries, not their own, so they are cut off from the sourse of power. For example, half of the Russian mafia leadership is wanted in other countries, I wonder what would have happened if everyone of them would be turned over to the country he is wanted in. So I think it would actually be better if Chapo went to prison in the USA, not in Mexico. In his country he is like a fish in water, even in jail which isn't "waterproof".
Exchanging prisoners between countries while they are doing time would create chaos in organized crime. A pity it's just a fantasy...

A farmer who lives 400 metres from house where the tunnel comes out said a couple in their 30's moved in there a year ago.
Might have only been two people doing the digging and it took them one year.

No American criminal ever had even come close to chapo's reach and power.

Kind of an ignorant post sonny seeing that Guzman has been under indictment here in the US for years for crimes that happened here in the US under his name and his authority-

http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/legacy/2009/08/20/chapo-mayo-indictment.pdf

Seeing how the mexican gov is supposedly(at least on paper) our partners in the so called war on drugs they shouldve realized it would have been more succesful to have him tried and inprisoned here in america. Lets see this little mexican smurf try to escape florence adx supermax one day.

And by the way America extradities citizens to foriegn countries all the time if theirs just cause and we have an extradition treaty with them, which we just happen to have with mexico.

Then consider my post withdrawn with apologies Dell.

You're not thinking at all. It's total apples and oranges as drug cartels don't have a fraction of the influence in the US they do in Mexico. This would never happen here. It's sort of like not trusting the Pakistanis to capture and hold Bin Laden once we knew he was in their country. Same principle here.

Beyond the international disgust directed toward Mexico (which I share)...Chapo's guys showed a lot of loyalty getting that tunnel dug and springing him out. It makes you wonder why they felt compelled to get him out.

When the boss gets locked up, especially on federal bit, the next guy steps into fill the power vacuum, or the boss tries to lead from prison through surrogates on the outside (Persico for example).I do not know of anything even remotely similar happening in the US with a criminal with that kind of profile.

I am no fan boy, Chapo has a lot of blood and torment on his hands in Mexico, the US and other countries. But the time, dedication, money and loyalty that went into getting him out, again, is staggering to me.

Looks like it is not the tunnel where he got out,NY Post just posted new photo of it :



For larger picture go; Right Click->View Image.

el chapo grimey as hell

he's litterally making a movie outta being an alleged criminal

I don't think the term alleged criminal, fits him.

No, you're missing his point.

You don't just demand and tell other countries what to do. That is his point. Has nothing to do with the effectiveness or the criminal justice system.

How about $10 million dollars each?

His partner and childhood friend Ismael Zambada García needs someone bloodthirsty like Guzman around to deal with rival cartels, keep the Sinaloa cartel senior leuitenants in line and also take the heat from LE.

It is hard finding guys with Guzman's talents and abilities and I'm quite certain Ismael Zambada Garcia aided Guzman in his escape.

Guzman was known as the muscle in the Guzman-Garcia partnership while Garcia was known as the brains.

My thanks MH. That was my reaction. It does grate that on occasion Americans forget they're not the centre of the universe.

But lets move on.

I think stuff like this strikes more fear in the heart of other cartels than a super violent act would.

You can plan for the wolf, but how do you plan against a fox?

They did demand he be shipped over here to face criminal trials. The Mexicans said he was being shipped to their version of a SuperMax. Their most locked down unit in Mexico. It's a fuckin joke.

The sad thing is the US DID demand Mexican Authorities to turn him over. Also, the US has at least one Mexican Cartel leader in the SuperMax in Colorado.

El Chapo's son Ivan Guzman, who is one of four individuals who head the Sinaloa cartel, apparently hired some guys with backgrounds in the Mexican military to plan an escape for his father.