Inmates facing US extradition escape Mexico jail

Mexico City officials confirmed Thursday that an important financial operator for the Sinaloa Cartel and two other inmates facing extradition to the United States were driven out of a Mexico City jail by guards in a jail transport van.

Video images show the van that transported the escapees out of the prison leaving the prison at 5:50 am. yet supervisors were not alerted until 8 a.m.

"This is the timeline recorded in the C5 (Mexico City CCTV system), where the vehicle is shown going back and forth, but there is no single moment in which the cameras recorded people leaving the van," said Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mayor of Mexico City at a news conference called to discuss the investigation into the escape.

City surveillance cameras show the van driving through the streets of the capital after leaving the prison.

The escape is feeding a debate over a judicial system that critics say is being manipulated to criminals' advantage. Video of Wednesday's escape show it occurred at 5:50 a.m. and yet supervisors were not alerted until 8 a.m.

The biggest name among the escapees was Victor Manuel Félix Beltrán, who was designated by the U.S. Treasury in 2015 under the Kingpin Act. The designation described him as a "high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel trafficker, who operates from Culiacan and Guadalajara." It noted that he was the son of drug trafficker Victor Felix Felix, who moved cocaine and laundered money for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The Mexico City prosecutor's office said in a statement that Luis Fernando Meza González and Yael Osuna Navarro were the other two escapees.

The guards driving the van had orders to transport another prisoner to a hospital and city surveillance cameras show the van driving to the hospital. However, they did not capture the moment in which the prisoners got out of the van, she said.

The escape brought renewed attention to the issue of legal maneuvers that prisoners have employed to be in the penitentiary they desire.

Félix Beltrán entered the jail on Mexico City's south side on Oct. 28, 2017, and was transferred to the maximum security Altiplano prison in Mexico state six days later - two years after Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped it through a tunnel.

Image source: Representative/ Unsplash