Mexican authorities yesterday recaptured fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, six months after his prison break, President Enrique Pena Nieto said .
“Mission accomplished: We got him. I want to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested,” Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter.
A presidential spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the tweet to AFP, but declined to give more details, saying that a press conference would be held later yesterday.
Mexican marines have conducted extensive operations in the northwestern states of Sinaloa and Durango since the 58-year-old drug lord’s spectacular July 11 escape.
News of his arrest came shortly after the navy reported that five suspects were killed in a clash with marines in the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis, but it did not indicate whether it was related to Guzman.
Guzman is being transported back to Antiplano — the same maximum-security prison where he escaped on July 11 using an elaborate tunnel that was dug under his shower stall, climbed on a motorcycle mounted on rails, and traveled 1.5 kilometers through the tunnel, Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez said at a news conference late Friday.
