Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the drug lord turned Mexican prison escapee who's at the top of all the most-wanted lists, was reportedly spotted at a hospital in Macuspana in the Mexican state of Tabasco earlier this month.
Guzman was reportedly involved in an auto accident in Macuspana and was transported to
Hospital Regional de Macuspana for treatment, the Latin Times reported. Eyewitnesses confirmed the
drug lord's presence to newspaper Tabasco Hoy and noted that law enforcement officials were notified.
But Guzman slipped out of the hospital by the time federal troops arrived to recapture him, authorities told multiple Mexican publications.
Rogelio de la Cruz, the hospital's director, issued a statement saying that Guzman was never at the hospital and the patient in question was someone else, according to the Latin Times.
Tabasco Hoy publisher Héctor Tapia told CNN that Macuspana residents were "rattled" by the news that Guzman was possibly in the area. The city rarely sees a mobilization like the 14 soldiers who arrived at the hospital in hopes of catching Guzman, Tapia said.
"We first posted a short news bulletin which quickly grew into the most-read story on the website," he told CNN. "In just a few minutes we counted 50,000 unique readers and we had twice as many clicks."
In the meantime, PBS' "Frontline" reported Monday that a federal Mexican court has charged four law enforcement officials for their roles in helping Guzman escape from his maximum security prison cell in Altiplano on July 12, bringing embarrassment to the country's justice system.
The four security employees did not follow through with normal protocols at the prison by not sounding an alarm to superiors and other prison officials once Guzman disappeared from the prison, according to "Frontline."
Two of the four charged were with Mexico's secret service stationed at the prison at the time of Guzman's escape. The other two had been monitoring Guzman's video feed inside his cell.
Related Stories:
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.