US drone, phone taps used to hunt Mexican drug lord

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014. AP FILE PHOTO

MEXICO CITY – US authorities announced plans to seek the extradition of Mexico’s most powerful drug lord after his capture in a US-backed operation that included a drone, cellphone intercepts and elite Mexican marines.

As prosecutors in New York prepared their request, new details emerged Sunday from the manhunt that led to the capture of Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, whose empire has smuggled drugs to the United States, Europe and Asia.

The US surveillance drone was used for two weeks between mid-January and mid-February to back up a massive operation in the northwestern city of Culiacan, a US government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Guzman eventually slipped out of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, after escaping through tunnels under one of his safe houses as the marines closed in on him, Mexican and US officials said.

Under pressure, the 56-year-old drug capo, who had been on the run since escaping from prison 13 years ago, fled further south to the beach resort city of Mazatlan.

It was there that the elite marine unit captured him on Saturday, in the fourth floor of a condominium, with a surprisingly small entourage that included one lookout, one bodyguard and a woman believed to be his beauty-queen wife, the US official said.

“Cellular telephone intercepts were involved in the arrest,” the official said, stressing that no drone was used in Mazatlan.

The US official said the remote-controlled aircraft was used in Culiacan to corroborate other intelligence and that Mexico’s military had authorized its use.

Despite being one of the world’s most wanted man, Guzman had been spending most of his time in the bustling city of Culiacan, living in a network of safe houses with escape tunnels, extra thick walls and steel-reinforced doors, officials said.

“It’s a big city where he has his contacts, his women, his houses,” the US official said.

Officials had hoped that Guzman would flee to a rural, more open space to capture him, and his decision to run to Mazatlan around three days before his arrest was a surprise, the official said.

His arrest capped a months-long operation that resulted in the arrests of a dozen Sinaloa cartel operatives, including alleged bodyguards of Guzman’s top associate, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

Several cellphones were seized from the detainees and later used to establish wiretaps as part of the operation against the Sinaloa cartel, said an official from the Mexican attorney general’s office.

The official said authorities are still searching for Zambada, who is seen as Guzman’s natural successor.