The attack on a prison in northern Mexico’s Ciudad Juárez on Sunday (1st) left 26 dead and 25 prisoners on the run, the government said in a new report released on Tuesday (3rd).
Two Chihuahua state prosecutors and five suspected inmates died in clashes at two points in Ciudad Juárez (north) yesterday as authorities conducted operations to locate fugitives following Sunday’s attack on the prison.
Two prosecutors were injured and long guns confiscated in those clashes, according to a statement from the Chihuahua Public Safety Secretariat.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval reported that five detainees had been arrested.
Among the fugitives is the leader of a group allied to the Juárez Cartel in its war against the Sinaloa Cartel, previously led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in prison in the United States.
He is Ernesto Alfredo Piñón, “leader of the group known as ‘El Neto,'” added Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez at the same press conference.
Piñón had been in prison since 2009 and the following year was sentenced to more than 200 years in prison for kidnapping and murder, according to the Chihuahua State Department.
When he was about to be transferred after his capture, a group tried to free El Neto, but they were unsuccessful and he was injured.
According to Sandoval, despite the danger, the perpetrator was not transferred to a federal maximumsecurity prison because authorities in Chihuahua did not request it.
The prison under attack, where several gunmen and drug dealers are being held, is the responsibility of the state.
The attack happened at dawn on Sunday, as family members of the detainees were queuing for their New Year’s visit and the group, arriving in armored vehicles, opened fire on the guards.
Law enforcement officials were further mobilized on Monday to search for the fugitives and other members of the armed commando.
Ciudad Juárez is near the border with the United States and is strategic for drug trafficking.
With a capacity for 3,135 inmates but currently 3,901 occupied, the prison under attack has been the scene of several clashes between rival groups and riots, including one that left 20 dead in March 2009.