El Chapo: Mexican police free drug lord's son as Culiacán battle erupts

Heavy fighting broke out in northern Mexico after the security forces seized one of the sons of jailed drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

Fighting raged for several hours after Ovidio Guzmán López was found during a routine patrol in the city of Culiacán.

Footage showed heavily-armed men firing on police, with cars, bodies and burning barricades strewn in the road.

Police withdrew without Mr Guzmán in their custody to avoid further violence, officials said.

Mexico's security minister, Alfonso Durazo, told Reuters news agency that a patrol of National Guard militarised police came under intense fire from outside the house where they had located Mr Guzmán, forcing them to retreat from the building for their own safety and "to recover calm in the city".

A lawyer for the Guzmán family told the Associated Press (AP): "Ovidio is alive and free."

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would hold a meeting of his security cabinet to discuss the incident.

Mr Obrador was elected on a platform of cracking down on Mexico's drug cartels, and has tasked a new security force, the National Guard, with fighting them.

Under El Chapo's leadership, the Sinaloa cartel was the biggest supplier of drugs to the US, officials say.

With the kingpin now behind bars, the cartel is said to be partially controlled by Ovidio Guzmán Lopez, who is accused of drug trafficking in the US and believed to be in his twenties. But he is not one of El Chapo's best-known sons.

What happened in Culiacán?

The state government said Mr Guzmán was found in a house by a police patrol on a routine search.

It said cartel members subsequently launched the huge attack in an attempt to seize him back from the authorities. Fighters also attacked security forces in other parts of Culiacán.

Witnesses described scenes of panic in the city, a stronghold for the Sinaloa cartel, as families with small children fled from gunfire.

Trucks were set alight in the streets to block roads

"No one knows what is going on but everyone is afraid and they have told us to not come in to work tomorrow," Ricardo González, a city resident, told AP.

Footage on social media showed a pick-up truck with a machine gun mounted on the back, in scenes reminiscent of a war zone.

Armed men were seen in several areas of Culiacán on Thursday

The Sinaloa state government told residents to remain calm and stay off the streets

Other footage showed families scrambling to take cover under cars and in shops as gunfire roared. In one video, a girl asked her father: "Why are they shooting bullets?"

A purported mugshot taken of Mr Guzmán while he was detained by police was shared widely on social media.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/10413697_operasnapshot20191018184408twitter_com_jpeg9c359426813398ba296530acfe718f6c
https://twitter.com/Stephentwoodman/status/1185034339412660225

Sinaloa state's head of security, Cristobal Castañeda, told the Televisa network that two people had been killed and 21 injured, according to preliminary information.

Pictures showing what appeared to be dead bodies on the streets suggest the death toll could rise.

Some police officers were wounded, local officials said, but would not provide further details.


The authorities say they are working to restore order in the city


Cars and jeeps have were also set on fire during the clashes

As fighting brought the city to a standstill, the Sinaloa state government said an unknown number of inmates had escaped from the Aguaruto prison.

It said it was "working to restore calm and order" and called on residents to "remain calm, stay off the streets and be very attentive to official advisories on the evolving situation".

Over time, it became one of the biggest traffickers of drugs to the US. He escaped a Mexican jail through a tunnel in 2015, but was later arrested. He was extradited to the United States in 2017.

He was accused of having helped export hundreds of tonnes of cocaine into the US and of conspiring to manufacture and distribute heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana.




https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50092641

When your criminal enterprise forces the hand of the government, that's when you know you have made it in life.


Hate him or like him, El Chapo is a successful criminal and this attest to his success

Naija dey learn for where Mexico dey.

See these two countries, Mexico and Australia bah nothing go ever carry go these places...

The patrol squad was ill-equipped to deal with the heavy resistance.

But, they made an attempt - that's what differentiates them from their Nigerian counterparts. In this country, even if 10 bullion vans move to and from your house every day, as long as you are in APC, you are untouchable.

My gee is back let my white biz Begin

Mehiko

Praise the Lord.
Justice must always prevail.

Mexico and drug is like were is dat meme again

News no dey quick reach this nairaland gosh

this is what you call drug cartels..
not the chiwawas we have in Nigeria forming Godzilla..
El Chapo and Pablo Escobar wish I could meet them one on one...

When gangsters speaks...

Not in Nigeria .... The guy will also goes down with his father ...

Bad as e bad see their roads, see their cars see their buildings and light dey then come Naija apology
In my area shooting na normal thing so Tey any time the shootings happen pipo will call radio station's, police stations etc. the radio stations know our area anytime our call for help comes dey cut the call sharp sharp, even police DPO our security calls always refuses to come, so now we don't even bother again the bad boys come kill, kidnap, loot as they like and go.
Once your money reach a certain level you Japa leave Naija.

we have only one El Chapo and he is a badass

this drugs cartels dy get mind

I want to leave a legacy for my sons

That's everyday in Mexico, nothing new.

The guy was like hot akara. The govt held him but he was too hot to hold. So the govt dropped him I wonder what sort of firepower would make a militarized police unit decide it was best to drop the prisoner for peace to reign.

police no know say theres some people you cant touch

Narcos ����

Mexico is a failed state

Wise police men......... If nah naija police, dem will come back the next day to arrest innocent citizens.....

okay

Queen Of The South... go and watch this tv series then you will understand this incident verr well

These men fight because DRUGS is their only means of SURVIVAL...