Mexico’s most notorious drug kingpin, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been captured, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto announced via social media.
“Mission accomplished: We have him. I want to inform the Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained,” his message on Twitter says.
The capture concludes a six-month manhunt following Guzman’s escape in July, through an underground tunnel, from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City, where he had been since 2014. The drug lord had escaped once before, in 2001, after being captured in 1993.
“I commend the Department of Defense for this important accomplishment for the democracy of Mexico,” Peña Nieto added in another tweet.
Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel was responsible for as much as a quarter of all illegal drugs smuggled into the United States, including cocaine, marijuana, and amphetamine. He faces extradition to the US, which had offered a $5 million reward for information on the fugitive. He is wanted in the US on various criminal charges.