Page 20 - min.soc 9 jan,2016

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UP FRONTSaturday 9 January 2016
Mexico:
Drug Lord “El Chapo” Guzman Recaptured
Continued from front
But Pena Nieto gave a brief
live message Friday after-
noon that focused heav-
ily on touting the compe-
tency of his administration,
which has suffered a series
of embarrassments and
scandals in the first half of are sure to be startling.
his presidency.
“The arrest of today is very
In this Feb. 22, 2014 file photo, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs
by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City, Mexico. Mexican President Enrique
Pena Nieto posted on his Twitter account, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, that drug lord Joaquin ‘Chapo’ Guz-
man has been recaptured.
important for the govern-
ment of Mexico. It shows
that the public can have
confidence in its institu-
tions,” Pena Nieto said.
“Mexicans can count on a
government decided and
determined to build a bet-
ter country.”
Guzman was apprehend-
ed after a shootout with
Mexican marines in Los
Mochis, a seaside city in
Guzman’s home state of
Sinaloa, said a federal of-
ficial who spoke on condi-
tion of anonymity because
he was not authorized to
be quoted by name. He
said Guzman was taken
alive and was not wound-
ed.
Five people were killed
and one Mexican marine
wounded in the clash at
a house. It was unclear
if Guzman was there or
nearby when the raid was
under way. Another law
enforcement official said
Guzman was captured at
a motel on the outskirts of
Los Mochis.
Given Guzman’s penchant
for escaping through tun-
nels, the details of his cap-
ture, once they are re-
leased by Mexican officials,
After his first capture in
Guatemala in June 1993,
Guzman was sentenced
to 20 years in prison. He
reportedly made his 2001
escape from the maximum
security prison in a laundry
cart, though some have
discounted that version.
His second escape last July
was even more audacious.
He slipped down a hole in
his shower stall in plain view by name, said authorities
of guards into a mile-long
tunnel dug from a property
outside the prison.
The tunnel was complete
with ventilation, lights and
a motorbike on rails, illus-
trating the extent to which
corruption was involved in
covering up such an elab-
orate operation.
In the United States, the
Drug Enforcement Admin-
istration hailed the capture
as proof of the close rela-
tionship between the two
countries. “The arrest is a
significant achievement
in our shared fight against
Prosecutors: Paris fugitive hid
out in suspected bomb factory
JOHN DAHLBURG
Associated Press
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian prosecutors on Friday re-
vealed new details about the biggest mystery in the
Paris attacks: What happened to fugitive Salah Ab-
transnational organized deslam after he ditched his car and explosive vest?
crime, violence, and drug After slipping through a police dragnet, they said, he
trafficking,” a DEA state- apparently hid out in the same Brussels apartment that
ment said. served as the killers’ bomb factory.
The U.S. Justice Depart- “We found material to make explosives, we found
ment commended the traces of explosives and we found three belts. So you
working relationship as well. don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to make the right
“I salute the Mexican law deduction,” Belgian Federal Prosecutor Eric Van der
enforcement and mili- Sypt told The Associated Press.
tary personnel who have Also discovered during a Dec. 10 police search of the
worked tirelessly in recent third-floor residence on the Rue Henri Berge: one of
months to bring Guzman to 26-year-old Abdeslam’s fingerprints, the Federal Pros-
ecutor’s Office announced in a statement.
A Brussels native whose older brother, Brahim, was one
of the Paris suicide bombers, Abdeslam is believed to
have played a key logistical role in the Nov. 13 car-
nage in which 130 people lost their lives. Islamic State
extremists have claimed responsibility for the mass kill-
(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) ings.
Early on the morning of Nov. 14, Abdeslam called two
justice,” Attorney General friends in Brussels to come fetch him from the French
Loretta Lynch said. capital.
A Mexican law enforce- A French gendarme stopped the three men in their
ment official said authori- car near the border, but released them. Authorities
ties located Guzman sev- now believe Abdeslam arrived later that same day
eral days ago, based on at the apartment in the Schaerbeek district of the Bel-
reports he was in Los Mo- gian capital, eventually was picked up by someone
chis. else, “and we lost him,” Van der Sypt said.
The official, who was not It’s not yet clear when Abdeslam was most recently in
authorized to be quoted the apartment, he said.
Now the target of an international manhunt, Ab-
had even searched storm deslam’s whereabouts remain unknown. “If we knew
drains in the area. In 2014, where he was, we’d catch him,” said Van der Sypt.
Guzman escaped capture Earlier unconfirmed reports said he was spotted two
by fleeing through a net- days after the Paris attacks in Liege in eastern Belgium,
work of interconnected heading toward Germany.
tunnels in the drainage Last month, some Belgian tabloids reported he’d been
system in Culiacan, the smuggled Nov. 16 out of a hideout in Molenbeek, an-
Sinaloa state capital. other Brussels neighborhood where he and other Par-
The Mexican Navy said in is attackers lived, by an accomplice who feigned a
a statement that marines household move and hid him inside a piece of furni-
acting on a tip raided a ture.
home in Los Mochis before Van der Sypt said authorities decided to release infor-
dawn. They were fired on mation about last month’s search to dispel inaccura-
from inside the structure, cies published by some media. Refusing to disclose
it said. Five suspects were specifics, the prosecutor said evidence acquired in
killed and six others arrest- the apartment “has helped us get further in the inves-
ed. The marine’s injuries tigation.”
were not life threatening.q According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the resi-
dence on a quiet Schaerbeek street flanked on both
sides by row houses was rented under a false identity
that may have been used by one of the people cur-
rently held in Belgium on suspicion of aiding and abet-
ting the Paris attackers.
That person was not identified by Belgian authorities.
One of the 10 men arrested, Ali Oulkadi, a welder and
restaurant deliveryman from Molenbeek, is suspected
of being the person who drove Abdeslam to Schaer-
beek from another district of Brussels. Detained Nov.
22, Oulkadi has been charged with participation in the
activities of a terrorist group and terrorist murders.
Inside the Rue Henri Berge apartment, three hand-
made belts were found by police, and “could have
been intended for the transport of explosives,” the
prosecutor’s office said.q