Police in Mexico are searching for a group of inmates who were sprung from a prison in Puerto Vallarta during a wave of attacks launched by the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel (CJNG) on Sunday.
Puerto Vallarta, a beach resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, was among the towns where the CJGN blockaded roads and torched cars in retaliation for the killing by security forces of their leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”.
During the unrest, armed men rammed one of the prison gates with a car, paving the way for 23 prisoners to escape, an official said.
More than 70 people – including 25 National Guard members – were killed in the violence which followed El Mencho’s death.
Juan Pablo Hernández, security secretary for the state of Jalisco, said that his office was working with other states to capture the fugitives.
Officials have not yet released details of the identities of the prisoners who escaped.
Cartel members torched several vehicles across Puerto Vallarta on Sunday.
Tourists and locals were urged to seek shelter and not venture out and footage they recorded showed black plumes of smoke rising above the popular beach resort.
A number of airlines temporarily halted their flights and at least two major cruise liners said their ships would skip planned stops in Puerto Vallarta.
The Mexican government said on Monday that most of the road blocks erected by cartel members had been cleared.
But El Universal newspaper reports that in the state of Morelia, where drug lord El Mencho was born, armed men continued to spread fear on Monday, torching cars and vandalising shops and public buildings.
El Mencho was Mexico’s most wanted man. Under his leadership, the CJGN became a powerful transnational criminal organisation which spread from its stronghold in the state of Jalisco into many other Mexican states, where it engages in drug production and trafficking.
It often resorts to extreme violence and has been behind a number of high-profile attacks on the security forces and government officials.
The Trump administration had described El Mencho as a “top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland” and had offered a $15m (£11.1m) reward for information leading to his capture.
The drug lord was captured by Mexican security forces in the town of Tapalpa, in Jalisco state, on Sunday.
Mexico’s defence minister said they were able to locate him by following one of his “romantic partners”.
He died shortly after being captured due to injuries in the firefight which broke out between his security guards and Mexico’s special forces sent to arrest him.
By BBC News
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