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 The head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel was captured in a car
wearing a filthy vest after fleeing through tunnels and drains from
a raid on a safe house in the city of Los Mochis, in his native
northwestern state of Sinaloa.
"Mission accomplished: We have him," President Enrique Pena Nieto
said on his Twitter account. "I want to inform all Mexicans that
Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested."
For Pena Nieto, the capture of a trafficker who twice slipped out of
Mexican prisons is a sorely-needed victory after his presidency was
tarnished by graft and human rights scandals and the shame of the
kingpin's flight from the maximum security Altiplano prison in July.
It also provides relief to U.S.-Mexico relations, strained by
suspicion of high-level collusion given the apparent ease with which
Guzman gave Mexican authorities the slip after the United States
requested his extradition.
Guzman now faces possible extradition to face trial in the United
States. That process could take months, although U.S. Republican
party presidential hopeful Marco Rubio was among those calling for
Washington to immediately pursue extradition.
 Once featured in the Forbes list of billionaires, Guzman led a
cartel that has smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine,
heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States and
fought vicious turf wars with other Mexican gangs.
He was caught early on Friday after Mexican marines raided his safe
house, killing five and capturing six of Guzman's henchman. They
pursued the drug lord through the northern city's drains and caught
him after a car chase through the outskirts, Attorney General Arely
Gomez said.
He was flown to Mexico City and later transferred in a naval
helicopter back to the Altiplano.
Guzman, whose nickname means "Shorty", first escaped prison in 2001
by bribing prison officials, and went on to dominate the world of
Mexican drug trafficking.
He was recaptured by Pena Nieto's government in 2014 but escaped in
July by capitalizing on the drug-tunneling skills his cartel honed
on the U.S. border. A mile-long tunnel equipped with electric
lights, rails and a motorbike came out directly into the shower of
his prison cell and he simply slipped away.
The escape heaped embarrassment on Pena Nieto, who had resisted a
U.S. request to extradite Guzman and had said previously that an
escape would be "unforgivable."
Dozens of people were arrested over the jailbreak, though details of
who Guzman bribed and how his accomplices knew exactly where to dig
into the prison remain scarce.
His recapture on Friday involved Mexican marines, the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Marshals, a senior Mexican
police source and a U.S. source said.
 STORM DRAINS
After stopping his getaway car, the Marines took Guzman and waited
for reinforcements at Hotel Doux, a love motel on the outskirts of
town that rents out rooms by the hour.
Los Mochis residents described gunfire and explosions from about
3:30 a.m. (0930 GMT).
Schools were closed as helicopters clattered overhead.
"The teachers were coming out terrified because they had heard the
rumors that he was fleeing in the city's drains," said Ana Bertotti,
30, a housewife who crossed town to find her child's kindergarten
closed.
One photograph widely circulated on social media, but that could not
be independently verified by Reuters, appeared to show Guzman
sitting handcuffed on a hotel bed, in a room that resembled those
shown on the Hotel Doux website.
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He was wearing a filthy vest and a poster of a scantily clad woman
was pinned on the wall behind him.
Another photo appeared to show Guzman without handcuffs and wearing
the same vest in the back of a vehicle next to one of his top
assassins.
U.S. officials and the DEA, which has had a bumpy relationship with
its Mexican counterparts since traffickers tortured a U.S. agent to
death in 1985, took no credit and congratulated Mexico on the
capture.
"This notorious criminal is – and will remain – behind bars, until
he faces justice in a court of law," said DEA Acting Administrator
Chuck Rosenberg.
EXTRADITION WILL 'TAKE TIME'
After coming under fire for failing to send Guzman to the United
States before he escaped the last time, Mexico said in July it had
approved an order to extradite him north of the border.
On Friday, the U.S. Justice department said its previous request to
extradite Guzman to the United States still stands.
A senior Mexican official said the attorney general's office would
quickly move to determine how Guzman could be extradited, but that
it could be months before he was sent out of the country.
Guzman's lawyer in October appealed against possible extradition in
case his client was captured.
Guzman is wanted by U.S. authorities for various criminal charges
including cocaine smuggling and money laundering
In 2013, Chicago dubbed him its first Public Enemy No.1 since Al
Capone, the gangster who won notoriety in the 1920s.
Believed to be 58 years old, Guzman was born in La Tuna, a village
in the Sierra Madre mountains in Sinaloa state where smugglers have
been growing opium and marijuana since the early 20th century.
After Guzman's first prison break, violence began to creep up in
Mexico. The situation deteriorated during the 2006-2012 presidency
of Pena Nieto's conservative predecessor Felipe Calderon, when
nearly 70,000 people lost their lives in gang-related mayhem.
After he managed to outmaneuver, outfight or out-bribe his rivals to
stay at the top of the business for over a decade, some security
experts see in Guzman's capture new hope for Mexico.
"This gives important credibility to the Mexican government. And the
fact is, they're starting to move forward in implementing the rule
of law," said Mike Vigil, former head of global operations for the
DEA.
(With reporting by Gabriel Stargardter, Christine Murray, Cyntia
Barrera and Alexandra Alper; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing
by Simon Gardner and Kieran Murray)
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reserved.]
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