Mexico City, July 16 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Some 10,000 federal police and 48 sniffer dogs have been deployed across Mexico in an effort to search for the most wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, according to the Mexican internal affairs ministry.
The ministry released a statement late Wednesday saying the deployed security forces will be inspecting private flights at airports in Mexico and vehicles in the main highways across the country.
The announcement of the massive search comes four days after Guzman allegedly escaped through a mile-long tunnel from his cell in the maximum security jail in Toluca, the capital of the central State of Mexico.
The measure, however, may be too late and not well planned since according to credible sources that recently spoke to teleSUR, the drug lord is in the Sinaloan mountainous region from Jesus Maria to Badiraguarato, where he was born.
According to El Economista, about 100 tunnels have been discovered in the last 10 years, all belonging to the Sinaloa cartel. “All the tunnels are built to high standards. They include rail tracks, ventilation and they are very well lit,” the Mexican newspaper said.
The Interior Ministry said it has set up at least 100 roadblocks on the main highways across the country, but it failed to say whether they had deployed any security forces to Jesus Maria or Badiraguato. Instead, they said they have reinforced surveillance at the borders, especially with Guatemala.
Federal officials said they visited the home of Guzman in Culiacan, where he escaped from detention February 2014 through a complex network of tunnels before being detained 120 miles south, in the tourist port of Mazatlan, in very dubious circumstances.
Based on how Guzman moves around and protects himself from arrest and rival gangs, it is highly unlikely that he was captured as the government says he was. They supposedly arrested him in an apartment building accompanied only by one of his wives and two daughters. “El Chapo is always protected by at least 80 heavily armed gunmen. He always has an escape plan in place,” Martinez told teleSUR. “This is usually through tunnels or hidden pathways or doors.”