Fugitive drug lord 'El Chapo' recaptured in Mexico

(Vatican Radio)  The most wanted drug trafficker in the world has been recaptured by Mexican Authorities for a second time, but the issue of whether he'll be extradited to the United States, has yet to be resolved.

Listen to James Blears' report:

Mexican Authorities say the raid in Los Mochis City in the North Western State of Sinaloa, followed a tipoff. 

Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman was arrested along with five other people, but not before five of his bodyguards died in a fierce gun battle with Navy Marines who spearheaded a joint miltary, police and intelligences services operation.

Among an array of weapons seized are a rocket launcher primed with a grenade, and two fifty caliber sniper rifles. 

Surrounded by heavily armed special forces, Guzman was bundled on to a light plane. His current where abouts are not being revealed.

Originally arrested in 1993 in Guatemala, Guzman bribed his way out of a maximum security jail in 2001, less than a week before he was due to be extradited to the United States.  

A fugutive for 13 years, he was arrested in February 2014.  But then escaped yet again, this time via a 1.5km tunnel from another so called maximum security prison. That blunder happened last July.

At the National Palace in Mexico City, flanked by his Attorney General, Minister of the Interior, National Security Chief, plus the heads of the Army and Navy.

Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto praised this latest operation as a triumph of law and order.  Yet no announcement about extradition to the US for Guzman, where escape from super-max incarceration might well prove utterly impossible.