The world’s most-wanted drug kingpin,
Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El
Chapo, has been captured, a senior
American law enforcement official said
Saturday, ending a 13-year manhunt for
the chief supplier of illegal drugs to the
United States and much of the world.
Mr. Guzmán, whose nickname means
Shorty, had eluded the authorities time
and again since he escaped from a prison
in a laundry basket just before an
extradition order to the United States. He
faces a bounty of drug trafficking and
other charges stemming from a
multibillion-dollar drug empire.
Few details were available on Saturday
morning, but a picture of Mr. Guzmán,
who appeared to be handcuffed and with
a few cuts to his face and torso, circulated
among law enforcement officials. He had
stayed so hidden that there was
uncertainty what he looked like, but
American officials believed they had the
right man.
Mexican marines captured him in the
Pacific beach resort area of Mazatlán.
There were no reports of shots fired. In
the past year, several of his top associates
had been detained and crime analysts
who follow the drug world had speculated
his days were increasingly numbered.
Guzman has been included in Forbes’
World’s Most Powerful People list since
2009.
Guzman has been named in multiple
federal drug trafficking indictments in the
United States and has been on the Drug
Enforcement Administration’s most-
wanted list. His drug enterprise stretches
throughout North America and reaches as
far away as Europe and Australia.
The Sinaloa cartel has been blamed for
its role in the bloody drug war that has
plagued Mexico in recent years.
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