Mexico Releases Footage of El Chapo's Capture
Video footage of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán’s Jan. 8 capture was released on Monday to Mexican station Televisa.
The footage shows Mexican authorities opening fire on El Chapo’s men and launching grenades into the house he was hiding in in the state of Sinaloa. The whole event was captured by cameras mounted on the helmets of the men storming the compound.
The footage is over an hour long but only parts were released to the media. In the footage one of the Mexican troops says he is wounded, the only casualty of the raid.
As CNN reports, the drug lord had his men guarding his home before the capture.
“Apparently he had a number of his hitmen receiving the Mexican soldiers while he was escaping through the back of the house,” Rafael Romo, CNN correspondent, said.
“He got into the sewer system in the city of Los Mochis and was able to come to the surface and then he stole a car but was later detained and arrested by the Mexican federal police," he continued.
El Chapo’s arrest is seen as a triumph for the Mexican government, who had been trying to capture him down since his escape from the Altiplano prison six months ago.
As previously reported, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto took to Twitter to announce the arrest.
Now that he is back in custody, Guzmán is expected to be extradited to the United States. However, it may take time before El Chapo faces U.S. justice.
José Manuel Merino Madrid, the man who oversees attempts to extradite prisoners for Mexico's Attorney General, informed Mexican media that lawyers for Guzmán could drag out the extradition process for as long as a year.
According to Juan Masini, an attorney who has worked as a U.S. federal prosecutor to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, extraditing Guzman might take several years.
"Theoretically the (Guzmán) lawyers could waive a hearing and the Mexican government could send him right away," Masini said. "But if he wants to fight it, under Mexican law he is entitled to challenge a lot of procedures. It could take years."
Watch the raid:
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