Escaped drug kingpin probably still in Mexico: U.S. DEA chief

Acting head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) indicated on Wednesday that the escaped Mexican drug mogul Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is still in his home state Sinaloa.

"Where is he probably the safest and best protected? Probably Sinaloa," Chuck Rosenberg said in a briefing. Sinaloa is Guzman's home state where he built up his powerful drug cartel.

The DEA on Wednesday also set up a tip line for information about one of the world's most notorious drug kingpins and offered a 5-million-U.S.-dollar reward for information leading to his recapture.

Guzman has been the most wanted man in the world since the night of July 11 when he successfully escaped through a hole in the shower area of his cell in the state of Mexico prison.

Mexican government officials have blamed Guzman's escape on corruption within the prison system that allowed his helpers to know exactly how to tunnel to his cell. Three prison workers were remanded in custody on July 24 for allegedly helping Guzman to escape.

This was the drug lord's second escape from a maximum-security prison in Mexico.

The infamous cartel kingpin had managed to escape with the help of prison officers in 2014, after he was arrested in the port town of Mazatlan in the northeastern state of Sinaloa, and was imprisoned in the Latin American country with an extradition order from the United States.

International interest in his recapture has been stoked by not only the probable "inside help" he got but also the fact that the Sinaloa cartel, known as El Chapo, has links with organized crime in at least 10 countries. Enditem