Argentinian authorities receive word that Joaquín Guzmán, who escaped Mexican prison in July, may be hiding along mountainous border with Chile

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Argentina is on high alert after getting a tip that escaped Mexican drug boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán may be somewhere along the country’s mountainous southern border with Chile, the country’s security security said on Friday.

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Guzmán, the world’s most wanted drug trafficker, escaped in July from a Mexican maximum-security prison through a mile-long tunnel that surfaced right inside his cell, in a major embarrassment for the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto.



There is a massive manhunt on in Mexico for El Chapo, aka “Shorty”, head of the powerful Sinaloa cartel which has smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States and fought vicious turf wars with other Mexican gangs.

“We received information that El Chapo tried to cross the Chilean/Argentine border,” in the southern region of Patagonia, the security secretary, Sergio Berni, told reporters.



“In line with protocol, we have activated all security mechanisms and have put the men and women of our federal forces in Patagonia on maximum alert,” Berni said.



An official source in Chile, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that “since mid-day the government has been receiving and collecting information on the matter”.



In August, the acting head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration said the US government believed Guzmán was still in Mexico.

Guzmán narrowly evaded security forces searching for him in the north-west of Mexico in October, sustaining injuries to his face and leg, the Mexican government said last month.



His brazen escape piled pressure on Peña Nieto to root out corruption, at a time when the Mexican leader is grappling with conflict of interest scandals plaguing him, his wife and his finance minister.