Watch ‘El Chapo’ Flee Prison Cell in Security Camera Footage
Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán escaped from maximum-security prison Saturday night, triggering a $3.8 million bounty for his capture. During a press conference held on Tuesday by Mexico’s National Security Commissioner, Monte Alejandro Rubido, authorities released a video detailing Guzmán’s intricate getaway, including security footage of “El Chapo” moments before his break and a thorough look at the tunnel system he navigated to freedom, Gawker reports.
The cell clip shows Guzmán pacing from his bed to shower, where he appears to make his descent. The video follows the drug lord’s path through a series of tunnels: After shimmying down a 20 x 20-inch hole into a 32.8-foot vertical tunnel, Guzmán journeyed through the main tunnel, which measures 4,921 feet. He used PVC pipe for ventilation – and a small bike on rails fashioned into a transportation cart – before exiting via a nearby house being constructed in Santa Juanita. The escape route also included a ladder and various supplies.
Guzmán previously escaped from prison in 2001, spending 14 years on the run before being captured in Mexico in February 2014.
On Monday, the San Antonio Express-News re-published two photos purportedly showing “El Chapo” following his escape: One appears to show the kingpin in the cockpit of an airplane; the other shows Guzmán holding a beer. However, Mike Vigil, former DEA chief of international operations, told the publication he was skeptical of the photos’ authenticity. “I don’t think (his son) would leak those photos because that could be used to try and apprehend Chapo, and that would be circumventing his planned escape,” he said.