Mexican kingpin ‘Chapo’ Guzman escapes prison for second time

Mexico's most notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has escaped from a high security prison, officials said on Sunday, the second time he has given his captors the slip in 15 years. Guzman, who once made it on to Forbes’ list of billionaires and is also wanted by the United States, was seen on video entering a shower area at 8.52pm local time on Saturday (0152 GMT Sunday), Mexico’s National Security Commission said. After he went out of view for a while, guards entered his cell to find it empty. No details of how he got out of central Mexico’s Altiplano prison have been disclosed. The latest breakout by El Chapo, or “Shorty”, is a major embarrassment for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who came to office in 2012 vowing to end a cycle of drug gang violence that has killed more than 100,000 people since 2007.

They were concerned about how dangerous he was, and they had a lack of confidence in the Mexican authorities to stop him operating from jail.

Alberto Islas, a security expert at consultancy Risk Evaluation

Guzman became one of the world’s top organized crime bosses, running Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel, which smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States and fought vicious turf wars with other Mexican gangs. Guzman was arrested last year. In 2001, he escaped Puente Grande prison near the city of Guadalajara, after a prior capture in 1993. According to reports at the time, he left hiding in a laundry cart. Flights have been suspended from the city of Toluca’s airport, near the Altiplano prison.

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