Explore The Secret Underground Tunnels Of The World's Most-Notorious Drug Kingpin
REUTERS/Henry Romero
Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman (C) is escorted by soldiers during a presentation at the Navy's airstrip in Mexico City February 22, 2014.
For 13 years, Mexico's most powerful drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman lived on the run, staying well ahead of authorities. But it was one slipup — an associate of his being caught on a wiretap — that led to his capture on Feb. 22.
Guzman had a penchant for high-tech gadgetry to keep ahead of authorities, as AP reported on Wednesday. He utilized sophisticated communications equipment and scanners to detect surveillance. But it was his last ditch low-tech underground tunnel that helped him almost get away again.
With Mexican Marines surrounding his house, temporarily hampered by a steel-reinforced door, Guzman fled through a secret door beneath a bathtub into his tunnel network.
Making it safely through the labryinth of tunnels, Guzman fled south to Mazatlan. Unfortunately for him, Mexican Marines and U.S. DEA agents had set up a base of operations in the city, according to AP.
Early on Saturday morning, Feb. 22, Marines had located him in a condominum complex and surrounded the area. Before sunrise at 6:40 a.m., Marines smashed open the door to his fourth floor condo, seizing Guzman without a shot fired.
With the Marines as guides, Reuters photographer Daniel Becerril shows us what those escape tunnels were like:
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
A Mexican marine lifts a bathtub that leads to a tunnel and exits in the city's drainage system at one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman in Culiacan.
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
A steel ladder leads to the bottom of a removable bathtub at one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, inside a tunnel leading to the city's drainage system in Culiacan
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
The bottom of a removable bathtub at one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman is seen inside a tunnel leading to the city's drainage system in Culiacan
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
A steel ladder leads to the bottom of a removable bathtub at one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, inside a tunnel leading to the city's drainage system in Culiacan
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
A tunnel from one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman leading to the city's drainage system is pictured in Culiacan.
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
An open steel door leads from a tunnel underneath one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman to the city's drainage system in Culiacan
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
An open steel door leads from the city's drainage system to a tunnel underneath one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman in Culiacan.
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
A Reuters journalist stands outside a steel door leading from the city's drainage system into a tunnel underneath one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman in Culiacan
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
Journalists use flashlights while walking through the city's drainage system towards a tunnel that comes out of one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman in Culiacan
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
Part of the city's drainage system which leads to a tunnel underneath one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman is seen in Culiacan
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
A Mexican Marine points his weapon in the city's drainage system after walking through a connecting tunnel underneath the houses of Mexican kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman during a presentation for the media in Culiacan.
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
A Mexican Marine stands in the city's drainage system after walking through a connecting tunnel underneath the houses of Mexican kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman.
REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
A drain exit which leads to a tunnel underneath one of the houses of Joaquin "Chapo"Guzman is seen in a neighborhood in Culiacan
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