Violent Mexican drug cartels send drugs, people into US

Mexican authorities have distributed 100,000 photographs of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to highway toll booths since his weekend escape from a maximum security prison, the interior ministry announced Wednesday.

He was gone in less than a minute.

In his last moments as Mexico’s most important prisoner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman paces his cell, past his single bunk with rumpled sheets, plastic water jugs on the floor. Then he walked back to the shower, stooped behind the wall and disappeared.

Mexico releases footage of fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman before his escape.

The Chicago Crime Commission Tuesday formally restored the label days after Guzman slipped from a maximum-security facility through a mile-long tunnel.

The cell contains two beds and on one, there appears to be an illuminated iPad or other type of electronic screen.

More than 1 200 federal police officers have fanned out in special search units around the Altiplano prison from where he escaped, 90km west of Mexico City. Three prison officials have been fired so far, including the director of the Altiplano prison-but Mexico continues to refuse the help of the United States government in tracking Guzman down.

The prison has the same high-security standards as those in the US and Canada, he said, and Guzman was given extra surveillance, including a tracking bracelet, although it worked only inside the prison.

According to AP, Guzman escaped via “a sophisticated mile-long tunnel with ventilation, lighting and a motorcycle apparently used to move dirt”.

Commission President J.R. Davis said in prepared remarks that Guzman’s trafficking led to more violence.

For the first time since his latest capture on February 22, 2014, Guzman was free.

The government also released images of Guzman’s cell after his escape, showing the rectangular hole on the floor of his shower, which is covered with humidity stains.

Guards also found a dead bird in Guzman’s trash can, which prison officials believe he used to test the air quality of the tunnel, before he made is escape.

Mexico is also co-operating with neighbouring Guatemala and the United States to increase border controls.

“When Guzman is arrested again, the U.S. should pursue his extradition in accordance with our treaty with Mexico governing such cases”, the Republican Florida senator said. Officials estimate that the one year construction project to help Guzman escape cost 50 million dollars to complete, and was finished in nearly half the time it should have taken.