By C1 Staff
MEXICO – Seven people who worked in the maximum security prison where a drug lord escaped through a high-tech tunnel have been arrested in connection with the escape.
Business Insider reports that Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s tunnel could only have been built with the collusion of prison officers and officials.
The tunnel opened up into a blind spot in Guzman’s cell, out of the range of his cell’s sole security camera.
It also took corrections officers 18 minutes to check Guzman’s cell after he ducked out and disappeared from the cell’s camera view.
The head of the prison has been fired since Guzman’s escape, and more than 30 officials have been interviewed.
The Mexican government revealed that the U.S. had requested the extradition of Guzman just two weeks before the breakout took place. The previous attorney general, Jesus Murillo, had said that the country had no plans to hand Guzman over.
Sen. Juan Carlos Romero Hicks said that even if Guzman was recaptured, extraditing him would be the same as admitting the country was incapable of keeping him locked up.