Expert not surprised ‘El Chapo’ used tunnel to escape

A forensics worker climbs out of the tunnel that according to authorities was used by Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, to escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, Mexico, Tuesday, … “He continued being a powerful person from his prison cell“.

He goes back toward the shower, returns to the bed, and back to the bathroom, bending down a first time behind the wall.

Hours after the world’s most infamous drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, escaped Mexico’s highest security prison over the weekend, the United States offered marshals, drones, even a special task force to help find and recapture him.

And the newly released closed-circuit video shows how calmly and easily he did it.

When inside his cell No. 20, which measures roughly 6 feet by 10 feet, Guzman was encased in a fortress of security.

The Mexican interior minister has also held meetings with Guatemalan officials to prevent Guzman slipping into the neighbouring country.

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.

Officials declined to say whether the prison’s director, who was fired on Monday, was among those released or kept in custody.

Guzman is now the focus of a massive manhunt and the Mexican government announced it is offering a 60 million peso (£2.5m) reward for information leading to his capture. In 2001, he managed to break free while reportedly hiding in a laundry cart. Several Mexican states have said they are doing the same, along with army or police patrols and airport stakeouts.

On Wednesday, officials also said they are cooperating with the United States, specifically the Drug Enforcement Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“You have to buy off the guards, and they know how rich he is”. Osorio Chong, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, refused to resign.

The small hole on the shower floor that Guzman, 58, slipped into for his daring escape late Saturday is not seen in the footage. One of those blind spots included the opening to the escape tunnel, he said.

The tunnel stretched for about a mile and ended inside a half-built house.

“Despite being imprisoned in a “high security” facility, DEA reporting further indicates Guzman-Loera was able to provide direction to his son and other cartel members via the attorneys who visited (him) in prison and possibly through the use of a cellphone provided…by corrupt prison guards”, the documents stated. Whoever helped in the plot likely had the architectural plans for the prison that pointed them toward the shower area, the official said.

Just a couple weeks later, Guzman was arrested near the Mexico-Guatemala border and later convicted on charges of drug trafficking, criminal association and bribery.

And in Mexico, more details are emerging about how that country’s most notorious drug trafficker escaped from a maximum security prison again.