The tunnel 'El Chapo' used to escape prison likely cost millions to build

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.
(Image credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

The tunnel that Mexican authorities believe drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman used to escape from a maximum security prison likely cost millions of dollars to build and took a year to make, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency official said.

Guzman is thought to have escaped through an opening inside his prison shower. He then descended 30 feet, went through the tunnel, and ended up at a house under construction surrounded by empty fields. It would have been difficult for someone not to know what was happening, and more than 30 prison employees are now being questioned. Guzman's cartel, Sinaloa, is the largest and most lucrative trafficker of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana into the U.S., the Times reports, and Vigil said Guzman has long utilized tunnels to get his drugs into the U.S.

Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.