El Chapo ‘escape house’ with secret hot tub to be raffled off Mexican govt

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Authorities in Mexico are selling off drug lord El Chapo's 'escape house'.

The property belonging to the kingpin, real name Joaquin Guzmán, will be auctioned off as payback to the Mexican government.

The home in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, is among his assets that will be raffled off on September 15. In total there are 248 different prizes in assets and cash worth a total of $12.5 million (£9.05 million).

El Chapo is one of the world's most infamous drug lords and is currently serving a life sentence in the US after being convicted of a string of crimes.

The house itself is worth around £133,000 and includes a secret hot tub tunnel.

Behind the white facade hides a high-security safe house with scores of cameras and reinforced steel doors.

The interior is modest – which was said to be part of El Chapo's strategy to be able to hide in plain sight.

But beneath the bathroom's tub lies a secret tunnel which leads users to a string of safe houses via the town's sewage system.

The house was the scene of one of El Chapo's dramatic escapes, after he used a storm drain to evade a manhunt.

He was tracked to the property by Mexican marines in February 2014.

After managing to flee through a tunnel under a bathtub that connected to the storm drain, he was arrested six days later in the city of Mazatlán.

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He escaped jail again the following year but was recaptured six months later.

El Chapo was extradited to the US in 2017 and was later convicted on numerous counts including murder, the distribution of cocaine and heroin, and money laundering.

At his trial witnesses testified that the 64-year-old had buried a man alive and drugged and raped girls as young as 13.

El Chapo was the boss of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, considered to be one of the most powerful and bloodthirsty drug gangs in the world.

In May, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the money raised would go "back to the people" and "help to buy (Covid-19) vaccines".

Also up for grabs are 22 other homes, including the Mexico City mansion of the former head of the Juarez cartel, Amado Carrillo.

• El Chapo
• Drugs
• Murder
• Crime
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