Secret escape tunnel: Details and Photos of operation to capture Chapo

Lucio R. Borderland Beat;  Written using material from AP, Televisa, Presidential Press releases

Highlights:

• A lever hidden behind a ceiling light operated a mechanism opening a door behind the mirror, to descending stairs and escape route.

• One bedroom were four DVD’s from the Kate Castillo series La Reina del Sur

• Chapo and Cholo Ivan traveled through the sewer and emerged using manhole in the middle of an intersectionAt 4:40 a.m. 17 Mexican marines began their assault on a safe house thinking there was a good chance Joaquin "El Chapo" was inside

•  A Marina element was wounded by gunfire almost immediately and remained outside the interior front door, while his comrades slowly advanced inside behind lobbing grenades and heavy fire

• A Marina element involved in the operation,  gave Televisa a tour of the premises,  he relayed that there were more people inside the home than expected and they were heavily armed, including with rocket-propelled grenades and .50 caliber sniper rifles

• Attorney general Arely Gomez told local radio that people in the house had ordered food for 13 people the night before the raid.

Escape tunnel

At 4:40 a.m. 17 Mexican marines began their assault on a safe house thinking there was a good chance Joaquin "El Chapo” Guzman was inside the Los Mochis home.

A Marina element was wounded by gunfire almost immediately and remained outside the interior front door, while his comrades slowly advanced inside behind lobbing grenades and heavy fire

A Marina element involved in the operation gave Televisa a tour of the premises, he conveyed that there were more people inside the home than expected and they were heavily armed, including with rocket-propelled grenades and .50 caliber sniper rifles

One gunman was killed in the main room just inside a front door riddled with bullet holes. On a tour Monday by an Associated Press photographer, the interior of the house looked much the same with bullet holes pocking its white concrete walls.

The stairs that the Marina commander repeatedly told elements to climb

The marines secured the downstairs rooms first

As they prepared to go upstairs a marine saw a man at the top of the stairs preparing to fire a rocket-propelled grenade. The marine hit the weapon with a couple shots causing the gunman to toss it, the marine guide said in the Televisa interview.

second floor

The wall above the stairs was particularly damaged by gunfire as gunmen tried to keep the marines from advancing.

Upstairs the marines found two women in a bathroom and two men in a room with a large television.

The home had four bedrooms and five bathrooms. On one upstairs bed were four DVDs from the series La Reina del Sur, starring Kate del Castillo, the Mexican actress who put Guzman in contact with the actor Sean Penn.

On a roof patio marines found tossed weapons and a ladder leading to a higher roof. It took about 15 minutes to secure the house. Then the marines followed the attackers across rooftops. Four more gunmen were killed in this pursuit.

There had been no sighting of Guzman

Knowing Guzman's predilection for tunnels, the marines began looking for an opening. Beside a ground floor bedroom littered with clothing, marines entered a walk-in closet and found an unusual panel behind a mirror. Guides showed the AP how a lever hidden behind a ceiling light operated a mechanism opening a door behind the mirror.

Mirror with a secret

Escape tunnel stairs behind mirror

It led to a set of descending stairs.

A six-foot tall tunnel complete with lighting, wood-paneled walls and a concrete floor led to more stairs and then a metal hatch opened into the city's storm sewer. Guzman and his security chief traveled several blocks through the meter-tall storm sewer before popping out in the middle of an intersection. They stole a car, drove a bit, and then stole another.

Federal police eventually found them on a highway outside of town headed for the mountains of Sinaloa.

DVDs of the Kate Castillo series

Room 51 a “Sex room” at the Doux

Initially, there were conflicting reports of Chapo and his chief of security, El Cholo Ivan, being captured at the Hotel Doux in Los Mochis.  Other reports said they were captured driving a carjacked red Focus, out of town and towards the Sierras.  The latter is correct.

However,  at first glance  those photos of Chapo and Cholo Ivan raised eyebrows.  Chapo was wearing a filthy “wife beater” and had cuts and scrapes, that could be seen all over his exposed skin.  Cholo Ivan was bare-chested and grimy as well. 

To be expected after running through the sewer in a crouched position. 

The contrast of the two, dog dirty, handcuffed men, sitting on satin bedding was amusing, but even more so when one knows they are in, a rent by

the hour sex room.  The first clue is the “artwork” of nude and scantily clad ladies adorning the walls. The Doux sex rooms rent for 4-6 hrs at around 3.50 USD per hour.

The Doux has regular rooms, in which you will not find the gold, pink and purple color scheme, light dimmers, candles, and  “for purchase”,  cards on the nightstand offer such things as vibrators, lubrication and condoms.

After being stopped, the men were taken to the Doux to be utilized as a holding cell, until reinforcement arrived.

It is doubtful the choice of room type chosen,  could not have been by happenstance.  Of course the

Marina jefe calling the shots  knew what he was doing by holding Chapo and Cholo Ivan in room 51.  He knew there would be speculation, humiliation, or the makings of a joke on Chapo. Chapo’s facial expression was priceless; he was very uncomfortable to say the least.  And on social media there was great speculation over Chapo and Cholo’s “relationship.  But there was no story there, and Chapo was not staying at the hotel.

As for the Los Mochis home, Mexico filed documents Monday to seize ownership of the Los Mochis home.  The home sits only 1 block from the home of  the Sinaloa governor’s mother.  The attorney general says that El Chapo had planned to make the home his home base safe house.

 gate to escape drain system

"The sewer"