Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman escapes

Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman escapes

Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera has for the second time in 15 years escaped a maximum-security prison, triggering a large-scale manhunt, the government announced early Sunday.

Guzmán Loera, the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel – considered by some to be one of the most powerful crime syndicates in the world – went missing at some point Saturday evening, the government said in a statement.

He escaped through a 1-mile tunnel connected to his cell, authorities said in a press conference Sunday.

He was showering at the Altiplano I federal penitentiary in Mexico state when he went missing from view at about 8:50 p.m., the National Security Commission said in a statement on Twitter.



It was soon discovered he was missing, triggering a search of the nearby area and a temporary halt to operations at the airport in the state capitol of Toluca, according to the statement.