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Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has escaped from a maximum-security prison, the government said, his second jail break in 14 years. The National Security Commission said on Sunday that Guzman was last seen in the shower area of the Altiplano prison in central Mexico late on Saturday before disappearing. “The escape of Guzman was confirmed,” it said in a statement.
The commission said a search operation was being set into motion in the surrounding area and flights have been suspended at Toluca airport near the penitentiary outside Mexico City. Guzman has been in prison since February 2014.
In more than a decade on the run, Guzman transformed himself from a middling Mexican capo into arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.
His cartel has been heavily involved in the violent drug war that has torn through parts of Mexico for the last several years.
At one point, his fortune grew to more than $1bn, according to Forbes magazine, which listed him among the “World’s Most Powerful People” and ranked him above the presidents of France and Venezuela.
In 2013, the financial magazine took Guzman off the list, saying it was likely security expenses had cut into his trove. — AFP
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo