Mexico Mounted Huge Manhunt to Catch ‘El Chapo’ Guzman

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, flanked by Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, left, and National Defense Secretary Slavador Cienfuegos Zepeda, applauds during a press conference following the capture of fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in Mexico City, on Jan. 8. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

MEXICO CITY—The capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman followed the most intensive manhunt in modern Mexican history, with at least 2,500 security and intelligence agents dedicated to getting a man whose escape had personally embarrassed the nation’s president.

The government says the hunt involved piecing together information from intelligence, data, interrogations and raids—as well as monitoring actors Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo as they came to interview the world’s most wanted trafficker.

There were, from the time of the escape, 2,500 people from various security agencies exclusively dedicated ... to mount a successful operation.

— Former intelligence official