Mexico’s biggest drugs lord escapes prison in 'Shawshank Redemption' style tunnel
MEXICO’S biggest drugs baron has escaped from a maximum security prison for the second time through a one mile tunnel.
Joaquin Guzman escaped through a pipe line leading out to a construction site
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is believed to have crawled through the ventilated hatch which began in the shower area of his cell.
In scenes which mirror’s Golden Globe winning movie Shawshank Redemption, where Tim Robbins crawls through a tunnel painstakingly dug from his cell into sewers, Guzman has made his second escape, having only just been recaptured last year.
A manhunt is now underway to recapture the kingpin of the Sinaloa gang which is thought to control every border from Mexico to America to operate its $1billion (£644m) empire.
At least 100,000 people are estimated to have died at the hands of the brutal drugs gang which has been heavily involved in a bloody war.
The cartel is thought to stretch as far as Australia and Europe.
Authorities are suspicious the huge tunnel could have been built with knowledge from prison guards or police.
Federal policemen inspect a pipe under construction by the Altiplano prison
Armed police on the lookout for Joaquin Guzman. Flights have also been disrupted
Eighteen officers have now been taken in for questioning.
Flights have been suspended at Toluca airport near the prison, and planes have been searched.
Checkpoints have been set up on roads and officers are on patrol around Altiplano prison, west of Mexico City.
Guzman, who had a $5million (£3m) bounty on his head before authorities captured him, was last seen at about 9pm on Saturday in the shower area.
Police have been carrying out stop and searches on cars in the area
Joaquin Guzman escaped prison in 2001 and was on the run until capture in February last year
When he disappeared from CCTV prison guards discovered his cell empty and a 50cm by 50cm hole near the shower.
He used a ladder to drop 10 metres underground into another tunnel which linked to a half-built house.
The tunnel was similar to those his drugs cartel built under Mexico to US borders to transport their drugs hauls of cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana, with ventilation, lighting and even railcars to easily move products.
He has previously escaped in 2001 while serving a 20 year sentence in Mexico’s other top-security prison, Puente Grande. He escaped arrest until February 2014.