World's most feared drug lord, Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman caught

Mexican authorities captured the world’s most powerful drug lord in a resort city Saturday after a massive search through the home state of the legendary capo whose global organisation is the leading supplier of cocaine to the United States.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, 56, looked pudgy, bowed and much like his wanted photos when he arrived in Mexico City from Mazatlan in Sinaloa state. He was marched by masked marines across the airport tarmac to a helicopter waiting to whisk him to jail.

Guzman was arrested by the Mexican marines at 6.40am. in a high-rise condominium fronting the Pacific in Mazatlan. He was caught with an unidentified woman, said one US official, who added that the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Marshals Service were “heavily involved” in the capture.

A federal law enforcement official said intelligence from a Homeland Security Department investigation also helped lead US and Mexican authorities to his whereabouts.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to journalists. No shots were fired.

US Attorney General Eric Holder called the capture a “victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States.”

Mexican authorities, based on a series of arrests in recent months, got wind that Guzman was moving around Culiacan, capital of his home state for which the cartel is named.