Fugitive Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been captured, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Friday. “Mission accomplished: we have him,” he tweeted.
Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, escaped from a maximum security prison in July 2015 to the embarrassment of the government. Incredibly, he bolted through a tunnel leading from the shower area of his cell to to a house construction site almost a mile away. It had taken a year to build. The escape triggered a massive manhunt, mostly concentrated in Guzman’s home state of Sinaloa.
"Today our institutions have demonstrated one more time that our citizens can trust them, and our institutions are at the level needed to have the strength and determination to complete any mission that is granted to them," Peña Nieto said Friday.
According to CNN, personnel from the Mexican Navy caught Guzman in an operation at about 4:30 a.m. in the coastal city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa.
Reports suggest Mexican marines raided a house in Los Mochis after receiving a tip off. Gunfire was exchanged during the operation, in which at least five people reportedly aligned with Guzman died. A marine was wounded and is stable in hospital.
The Associated Press reported that six people were arrested, including Guzman, although it is not clear if he was at the house or nearby when the raid was under way. Another source said a Mexican law enforcement official confirmed that Guzman had been captured at a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) congratulated the Mexican government on Guzman’s capture.