09 January 2016•Update: 10 January 2016
By Nancy Caouette
MEXICO CITY
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the so-called world’s most-wanted drug lord, was captured for a third time Friday, Mexican authorities announced.
"Mission accomplished: we have him", President Enrique Peña Nieto said via Twitter.
Guzman was captured when Mexican forces ambushed a private residence where he was hiding in the state of Sinaola.
The leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel had escaped six months ago from a maximum-security jail in Altiplano, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) outside Mexico City.
Guzman managed to escape through a tunnel dug from the shower of his cell. It was his second escape while in Mexican custody and exposed corruption at the highest levels in Mexico.
A vast manhunt had been deployed to find Guzman after the escape in late July and the United States had offered a $5 million dollar reward for information leading to his capture.
The drug kingpin was first arrested in 1993 on drug-trafficking charges and received a 20-year prison sentence but escaped from the Puente Grande jail in 2001 while hidden inside a laundry cart.
He was caught a second time in February 2014 in Mazatlan, in the State of Sinaloa, before being sent to the Altiplano jail.
The U.S. asked his extradition in an attempt to prosecute Guzman on drug-related charges, but Mexican authorities denied the petition, alleging that Guzman could not escape again.
