Mexico’s drug kingpin Guzman flees, recapture bid fails

The government did not say exactly where the operation took place, but the governor of the northwestern state of Sinaloa said Wednesday that special forces have been conducting operations in the neighboring state of Durango.

In a statement, the Mexican government said Friday it had coordinated efforts with global agencies that led to the new hunt for the notorious fugitive.

“It is important to note that these injuries were not the result of a direct confrontation”, the statement said.

Mexican officials, however, said Guzman wouldn’t be sent to the US until he had served time for all of his crimes in Mexico.

Guzman is believed to have sustained injuries to the face and a leg, and the pursuit transpired in the mountains of Northwest Mexico, the Associated Press reports.

After Guzman’s escape troops shut off 13 communities from Jesus Maria – 30 miles north of the state’s capital Culiacan – to the nearby states of Durango and Chihuahua, in order to search for him.

Guzmán who heads the Sinaloa drug cartel, has been on the run after his brazen escape from prison in July.

However, according to NBC News, Guzman didn’t escape the clash unscathed and is thought to have suffered face and leg wounds.

Caretas REV, which operates a small costume factory in the city of Cuernavaca, has produced more than 2600 “El Chapo” masks this month, with many of them being exported to the United States and Canada. Citing three sources with knowledge of the operation, NBC said the marines raided the ranch in helicopters, but turned back after taking fire from Guzman’s gunmen.

Guzman made a mockery of justice when he escaped from a maximum security prison in Mexico in July. Prison security video previously made public but without audio was published again Thursday with sound by the Mexican network Televisa. American authorities had sought to extradite Guzman to stand trial in the USA, but were rebuffed by Mexico.

TOMAS BRAVO/REUTERS Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escaped his jail cell through a tunnel connected to a warehouse (pictured).

The footage emerged after it was revealed Guzman narrowly avoided capture last week after USA drug agents identified where he was hiding out through his mobile phone.

Guzman was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and spent almost a decade in another Mexican prison before escaping in 2001.