Former world boxing champion Fernando “Cochulito” Montiel lived closely with the capture of one of the accomplices of capo Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, also arrested on Friday, in the town of Los Mochis, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.
Montiel, 36, who won the World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight titles and the World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight, told local media that a group of sailors entered his home to arrest one of “Chapo’s” men.
The boxer said that between 4:00 and 5:00 local time on Friday, he heard shots behind his house, so he went upstairs for his children and took them to his bedroom.
Minutes later, Navy personnel called his home and asked for access to check “if there was no person” inside.
The boxer said he was surprised when the sailors found a man in one of the rooms who, while trying to flee from federal forces, jumped home, deactivated the alarm and hid in one of the rooms.
Montiel said that he was scared to learn that a stranger had entered his house without realizing it, since he did not know who it was, much less that the operation was aimed at recapturing the leader of the Sinaloa cartel.
«I can only say that God does exist and was with me at this time. Thank you God for what I experienced this morning and I am saying it, “Montiel wrote in a message on the Twitter social network.
The operation carried out by federal forces in a home in Los Mochis unleashed an intense shooting that left five criminals dead, a sailor wounded and six arrested, including the one captured in the boxer’s house.
Guzmán managed to escape through the city’s drainage system in the company of his head of security, Jorge Iván Gastélum Ávila or Orso Iván Gastélum Cruz.
According to the Mexican prosecutor’s office, when they were pursued by the security forces, they both surfaced and stole a vehicle.
The report of the theft led the agents to continue the search of the vehicles, which allowed them to detect the unit in which the criminals were traveling on the Los Mochis-Navojoa highway.
The two detainees were transferred to a motel on the outskirts of the town “to wait for reinforcements” and a little later they were taken to the Los Mochis airport, from where they left for the country’s capital.
In one of the hangars of the capital air terminal, they testified before the Public Ministry and were subjected to various examinations for their identification and assessment of their physical integrity.
At night they were presented to the media and transferred by helicopter to the maximum security prison in the Altiplano, from which “El Chapo” escaped on July 11 through a 1.5-kilometer tunnel. EFE
Former boxing champion experienced the capture of an accomplice of “Chapo” Guzmán
