Mexico's billion dollar drugs lord known as 'El Chapo' has gloated on Twitter about his escape from a maximum security jail by taunting authorities and threatening US-presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
Joaquin Guzman, billionaire head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, made his jail break on Saturday morning and is on the run from Altiplano jail, 50 miles outside of Mexico City, security officials said.
His audacious escape saw him dash through the mile-long tunnel system, which led to a building under construction next to the prison - from where he collected clothes left for him by his conspirators.
But following his escape he has took to Twitter and used it to hit back at Trump, who has said that the Guzman embodies 'everything that is wrong with Mexico' and added he would 'kick his ass'.
On the account, administered by Guzman's son Ivan, the escapee reportedly wrote: 'If you keep p****** me off I'm going to make you eat your words you f****** blonde milk-s*****'.
In Mexico, a milk-s****** is a homophobic slur.
The property magnate is taking the threat seriously.
According to TMZ the billionaire has called in the FBI to investigate the source of the Twitter account which warned Trump he would be sorry he spoke out against Mexico.
He also took aim at the Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto saying: ''And you @EPN, don't call me a delinquent because I give people work unlike you you cowardly politician.'
The drugs lord's account became particularly active yesterday, when many believe it was Guzman himself sending messages of victory and threatening his enemies with gruesome death.
He also posted: 'Never say never, this world keeps turning. In this life, he who risks nothing cannot win'.
He followed up with 'There's no jail for such a big midget' as El Chapo means midget in Spanish as Guzman measures only five foot six inches tall.
He also started calling death threats on those who have supposedly betrayed him, including El Chabelo, the current incarcerated boss of Sinaloa's rival cartel the Zetas.
Guzman wrote: 'First to die is El Chabelo, for wanting to see me die in prison.'
He then hinted that the authorities had been complicit in the jailbreak by posting: 'The dog (slang for the Mexican government) dances for money, and I've bought it.'
During his last escape, Guzman hired the help of the prison guards during his first successful escape from maximum security prison, in which he was hidden inside a laundry basket.
The drugs lord made his latest escape on Saturday through a sophisticated tunnel contained air vents, electric lights, emergency oxygen tanks - and even a motorbike on rails to speed his escape, according to Mexico's National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido.
The kingpin exited the tunnel where it ended at an abandoned property near the local town, Rubido told a news conference on Sunday.
The escape comes after Guzman's son, Ivan also hinted about his father's plans for a daring escape from online earlier this month.
He put up a post on the social network saying 'good things come to those who wait'.
Earlier still, on May 8, the Sinaloa Cartel heir published an emotional pledge to his followers.
He posted: 'I won't lie, I have cried but I bring armed men and I promise that soon the General will be back'.
Guzman, who had bribed his way out of prison during an escape in 2001, was seen on video entering his shower area at 8:52 p.m. on Saturday, the National Security Commission (CNS) said.
The Sinaloa cartel has a long history of tunnel building, particularly along the US border where they were used to smuggle narcotics into America, and in his home state of Sinaloa, where subterranean structures still hide weapons.
The cartel has an engineering division, less notorious than the organisation's armed factions, but equally vital in their ongoing operations.
Five days before his capture El Chapo fled from a military operation aimed at his capture through a tunnel in his mansion connected to the city's storm drains.
The tunnel was located below a bathtub, which raised itself vertically by the flick of a switch, revealing escape tunnels.
The same device was found in seven of the 19 separate houses belonging to El Chapo which the government seized following his capture.
Wanted by U.S. prosecutors and once featured in the Forbes list of billionaires, Guzman was gone by the time guards entered his cell in Altiplano prison in central Mexico, the CNS said.
'This is going to be a massive black eye for Pena Nieto's administration,' said Mike Vigil, former head of global operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
'I don't think they took into account the cunning of Chapo Guzman and the unlimited resources he has. If Chapo Guzman is able to make it back to the mountainous terrain that he knows so well in the state of Sinaloa ... he may never be captured again.'
Beneath a 50-cm by 50-cm hole in the cell's shower area, guards found a ladder descending some 32 feet into the tunnel, which was about 5.6 feet high and 28-31 inches wide.
Prison workers were quickly detained over the escape.
Rubido said 18 officials from the penitentiary were being interrogated at the unit specializing in organized crime at the Attorney General's office.
Outside the Altiplano lockup, and at the deserted property where Guzman surfaced, security forces barred reporters, while guards arrived for the day shift and encountered a prison in lockdown, wondering whether to stay or go home.
After the launch of a massive manhunt for Guzman, Mexican President Pena Nieto ordered an investigation into whether public officials had helped the capo escape.
According to Vice, Guzman enjoyed special privileges inside the prison - including private audiences with his visitors - while other inmates had a tougher time.
At a press conference today, Mr Rubido said said that Guzman used an elaborate escape hatch built allegedly without the detection of authorities.
'Along the tunnel, they found construction tools, oxygen tanks, containers with fuel and plastic tubes among other things. The passage came out at a construction site.'
He did not comment on why authorities had apparently failed to notice a long tunnel being built.
No comments:
Post a Comment