MEXICO – Officials in Mexico say that they have killed a Mexican drug lord El Chapo who was reported to have escaped months ago.
Joaquín El Chapo Guzman, known as El Chapo – Shorty – was the founder of the Sinaloa cartel and regarded as the spiritual leader of its offshoot, the brutal Knights Templar.
Police said he was finally tracked down and riddled with bullets in Juarez.
“From a fingerprint analysis we have confirmed 100% that this was Joaquín Guzman,” said Thomas Mendoza, the head of investigations at the federal prosecutor’s office.
A spokesman for Government security said: “Security officials had been tracking Guzman for some time. Anonymous tips indicated that El Chapo Guzman was not only hiding, but continued operating at the head of a criminal group conducting extortion, kidnapping, cocaine trafficking and other crimes,” he said at a news briefing in Mexico City.
Mr. Mendoza said Guzman was stopped by police on Sunday morning in the village in Juarez.
“When he was asked to turn himself in, he opened fire and was riddled with bullets and killed,” he said.