Dramatic moment marines raided hideout of Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’

Michael Howie12 January 2016

The full drama of the operation to recapture Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s hideout has been revealed in a newly-released video of the raid on the Mexican drugs kingpin’s hideout.

In scenes that look like an action movie, one marine is wounded by gunfire almost immediately before his comrades slowly advance through the safe house lobbing grenades and firing a hail of bullets.

The operation, dubbed “black swan”, was launched at 4.40am on Friday by a squad of 17 Mexican marines in a central neighbourhood in the Pacific coast city of Los Mochis where Guzman had been hiding out with his henchmen.

Video recorded by the marines’ helmet cameras released by Mexico’s government shows the injured marine screaming, “They got me, they got me.” Another commando is heard comforting the injured man with the words: “Stay calm, little guy, stay calm.”

The marines encountered about a dozen well-armed guards during the 15-operation to secure the safe house.

The bodies of about half, all members of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, were left strewn across the compound floor as the marines inched their way throught the lair with brutal force.

Arrested: Mexican drugs kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman
AFP

A constant volley of gunfire can be heard, along with intermittent explosions as grenades hit the floor and the Mexican navy special forces team methodically clear each room in the two-story house.

Upstairs they found two men in one room and found two women on the floor of a bathroom.

On one upstairs bed the marines found four DVDs from the series La Reina del Sur, starring Kate del Castillo, the Mexican actress who put Guzman in contact with the American actor Sean Penn.

Amid the chaos, the two-time prison escapee managed to flee one more time - stealing himself out of the house through a secret passageway before dropping into a manhole emerging through a maze od drains into the streets of Los Mochis.

It took the Mexican authorities at least 90 minutes to find the passageway, a senior law enforcement source told CNN.

Guzman was eventually caught speeding along a highway outside the city in a stolen car.

Meanwhile Penn last night dismissed criticism of his interview with Guzman during a supposedly secret meeting that authorities say helped track down the world’s most-wanted trafficker.

“I’ve got nothin’ to hide,” Penn told The Associated Press after images published yesterday indicated he was under surveillance when he met with the Mexican actress who led him to Guzman.

The pair was apparently followed and photographed as they set out for the meeting with Guzman in October.

The actor also shrugged off a suggestion that he was “taking hits” for agreeing to submit his article to Guzman prior to publication by Rolling Stone magazine.

“No, you’re reading hits,” he said in a brief email exchange with The AP.

Guzman faces extradition to the US to face drug trafficking charges.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto last night referenced Guzman’s capture in a short new year’s message to the nation.

“The detention of the world’s most wanted criminal is a credit to the coordination of our institutions in favour of security and the rule of law,” he said. “With this action, 98 of the 122 most dangerous criminals no longer present a threat to society and we are going for all of them.”

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