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Tag: Mexican criminal

  • El Chapo Evades Recapture, Marines Rain Down Bullets On Mexican Civilians In Manhunt

    El Chapo Evades Recapture, Marines Rain Down Bullets On Mexican Civilians In Manhunt

    It’s been 100 days since the grand escape of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman from his maximum security prison cell, but authorities are still struggling to capture the elusive fugitive.

    El Chapo got lucky twice when he narrowly evaded recapture by the combined forces of U.S. Intelligence and the Mexican Marines. Sources say that an ambush was launched on Saturday at his suspected hiding place in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains, which is located on the border of Chihuahua, Durango, and Sinaloa. U.S. law enforcement agents previously gathered intelligence that he sought refuge at his ranch when they intercepted phone signals among Sinaloa cartel officials.

    The Marines were forced to retreat their aerial attack after El Chapo’s security forces opened fire at their helicopters. They entered the ranch on foot and found clothes, medication, and communication devices – but no El Chapo.

    Ten days ago, the Mexican Marines took their manhunt to Tamazula in Durango state, where they reportedly shot at villagers’ homes from helicopters. Several civilians claimed that they almost fell victim to the gunfire and that they had to flee their homes with their families in order to avoid getting killed.

    A resident named Ines Ayon Mendoza told AFP journalists that she was going through her usual morning routine when she felt a slew of bullets raining down on her home. She was able to escape the scene with her family, but claimed that two helicopters continued to fire at her village.

    Despite these failed attempts at capturing El Chapo, U.S. and Mexican authorities are confident that he will be caught sooner or later. In an interview with NBC, former DEA head Michael Braun declared that “Today [Guzmán] is a dead man walking. It’s only a matter of time.”

    Security expert Javier Oliva of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) echoed Braun’s sentiments by saying, “It will not be long from now, perhaps a month, before Guzmán is re-captured.”

  • ‘El Chapo’ Cleverly Escapes Prison, Suspected To Be Hiding In Sierra Madre Mountains

    The latest developments in the escape of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman involve newly-released surveillance footage revealing a banging noise coming from inside his maximum security cell at the Altiplano prison just moments before he escaped.

    The video, which was previously released to the public by the Mexican government, initially shows El Chapo tucked under a blanket on his bed, watching TV.  

    Mexican media company Televisa shared the audio recording to match the video, and it reveals a banging sound that persists for almost four minutes before El Chapo gets up and heads to the shower area of his cell. Approximately two minutes later, after pacing back and forth from his the shower and his bed, El Chapo disappears.

    Mexican and U.S. law enforcement immediately joined forces in capturing El Chapo. U.S. drug agents were reported to have intercepted cell phone communications between members of the Sinaloa drug cartel in order to get information on his whereabouts.  They suspect that the fugitive drug lord is hiding at one of his ranches in the Mexican Sierra Madre mountains.

    However, Mexican Marines returned empty-handed after launching a raid in the said ranch.

    According to sources, all that was found in the ranch were clothing, cell phones, and other items that are believed to belong to El Chapo.

    Upon inspection of the escape tunnel by Mexican authorities, it was discovered that it measured almost one mile and connected the two-by-two foot hole in the shower floor all the way to an empty construction site south of the prison.

    Hailed as the “Osama bin Laden of drug trafficking,” El Chapo remains the most wanted man in Mexico and is now also public enemy number one in Chicago. Chicago crime commission executive director Joseph Mays attributes his city’s numerous drug-related violence to El Chapo.