Drug lord escapes prison for second time by breaking out through secret 1.5km tunnel built from his cell

Mexico’s most powerful drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, escaped from a maximum security prison through a 1.5-kilometre tunnel that opened into the shower area of his cell, the country’s top security official said.

The elaborate, ventilated  escape hatch built allegedly without the detection of authorities allowed Guzman to do what Mexican officials promised would never happen after his re-capture last year – slip out of one of the country’s most secure prisons for the second time.

Eighteen employees from various part of the Altiplano prison 90km  west of Mexico City have been taken in for questioning, Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said.

A manhunt began immediately  on Saturday evening for the head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, which has an international reach and is believed to control most of the major crossing points for drugs at the US border with Mexico.

Witnesses near Altiplano saw roads being heavily patrolled by Federal Police with numerous checkpoints and a Blackhawk helicopter flying overhead. Flights were also suspended at Toluca airport near the penitentiary in the State of Mexico, and civil aviation hangars were being searched.

Guzman, believed to be 56, was last seen about 9pm on Saturday in the shower area of his cell, according the National Security Commission. After a time, he was lost by the prison’s security camera surveillance network. Upon checking his cell, authorities found it empty and a 50-by-50 centimetre hole near the shower.