EL CHAPO NEARLY CAUGHT

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's latest taste of freedom nearly came to an abrupt end thanks to his daughters' pet monkey.

The Mexican drug baron's ability to break out from ostensibly secure prisons has infuriated and embarrassed the authorities and intensified pressure on the unpopular government led by Enrique Pena Nieto.

But, according to reports in Mexican media, the country's most wanted fugitive, who escaped in July, came within a whisker of being recaptured because of Boots, the much loved pet belonging to the gangster's four-year-old twin daughters.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman

The pet was adopted by the Guzman family when he was recaptured in February last year after a decade on the run and incarcerated in Altiplano prison.

Boots was left behind when the Guzman family moved back to Sinaloa and this, according to Anabel Hernadez, a Mexican investigative journalist, proved too much to bear. 

REUTERS

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman being arrested after escaping from high security prison last year. 

Having been reunited with his children following his latest escape, Guzman dispatched his associates to fetch Boots.

For somebody who has made a living out of drugs, murder and masterminding a terrifying criminal cartel, Guzman was surprisingly punctilious about observing the law when it came to reuniting the monkey with his daughters.

A permit was requested to enable Boots to fly and the application for the correct documents put the security services back on the drug baron's trail, with the police discovering that the monkey was being carried in a Ford Mustang belonging to his brother in law.

Police were able to track his mobile phone signal to a ranch in the Sierra Madre mountains. They approached the area by helicopter and on foot before coming under fire. Guzman was reportedly injured while falling down a ravine as he tried to make his escape.

He remains at large since his escape from prison.