WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s most wanted man, drug kingpin Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, has been captured in Mexico by US and Mexican law enforcement officials, sources said on Saturday, in what would mark a major coup in a grisly fight against drug gangs.
A US government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Guzman had been captured, without elaborating. A Mexican security source confirmed the capture, saying it took place in Mazatlan, a seaside resort in Guzman’s northwestern home state of Sinaloa.
In Mexico City, presidential spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said authorities have “captured an individual in Sinaloa” and that they were working to confirm his identity.
Local television broadcast a photograph of a man it said was detained in the operation, who bears a resemblance to Guzman. The man had a small black moustache, and was shirtless.
Guzman, known as “El Chapo” (Shorty) in Spanish, runs Mexico’s infamous Sinaloa Cartel, which has been fighting a brutal war with other gangs over turf and drug-trafficking routes to the United States.
The 5-foot 6-inch (1.7-metre) tall gangster’s exploits have made him a legend in many impoverished communities of northern Mexico, where he was immortalized in dozens of ballads and low budget movies.
