Mexico captures top drug kingpin 'El Chapo' Guzman
Mexican marines captured the world's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Mexican marines captured the world's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in a Pacific beach city on Saturday, ending a blood-stained reign after a 13-year manhunt.
Guzman, 56, was arrested at around 6:00 am local time in a hotel in Mazatlan, a resort located on the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, apparently without a shot fired, a US security official told AFP.
The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Guzman, who is accused of being behind much of the drug violence that has plagued Mexico for years.
His arrest deals a major blow to the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's biggest drug trafficking organization, an empire that stretches along the Pacific coast and smuggles drugs to the United States, Europe and Asia.
Mexican forces were acting on a intelligence from the US Drug Enforcement Administration and US Homeland Security intelligence, the official said on condition of anonymity.
"We've been actively tracking him for five weeks. Because of that pressure, he fled in the last couple of days to Mazatlan," the official told AFP.
"He had a small contingent with him," the official said.
Guzman was believed to have been hiding in a house in Culiacan, Sinaloa's largest city, but had fled as authorities hunted for him. The house had extra-thick walls and escape tunnels, the official said.
The arrest is a major coup for the 14-month administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which captured the head of the ultra-violent and powerful Zetas drug cartel, Miguel Angel Trevino, in July 2013.
"I recognize the work of the Mexican state's security institutions for detaining Joaquin Guzman Loera in Mazatlan," Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter, adding that the coordination between the navy, police and intelligence services was "decisive."
But Guzman's top associate, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, remains on the run even though Mexican marines "almost got him" in recent operations against the Sinaloa cartel, the US official said.
