More than 30 luxury cars and motorcycles were confiscated from alleged members of El Chapo's cartel in his hometown of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, as the drug lord still remains on the run, according to the Mexican Navy.
The 33 vehicles - including a Dodge Viper, a fully-loaded Jeep Sahara and a Ducati - were confiscated in a series of raids by the Mexican government over the span of a week.
Thirteen military-grade weapons were also confiscated during the raids in the Mexican state's capital, which serves as the home base of the all-powerful Sinaloa Cartel.
Cartel leader, 60-year-old Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, who's worth an estimated $3billion, is one of most wanted men after his dramatic Shawshank-style escape from Mexico's maximum security Altiplano prison.
In one of the raids, the Mexican Navy took part in a high-speed chase after the driver of a vehicle tried to run down security with his car, the Mexican Navy said in a news release.
Authorities managed to 'contain the threat' by killing one and injuring another passenger in the car, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
The mass seize came as Guzman’s cousin, Manuel Jesus Gutierrez-Guzman, 54, was sentenced to 16 years in a New Hampshire prison for working to distribute cocaine in the United States.
He pleaded guilty in October to his role in a conspiracy to expand Guzman’s drug empire to New England, which included distributing more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine and other drugs in the region. He was arrested in Spain in 2012.
An investigation into Gutierrez-Guzman began in 2009 when the cartel was discovered in Massachusetts, according to FOX News.
“This case illustrates that drug cartels based in foreign countries will go anywhere to distribute their deadly products,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Donald Feith. “Mr. Gutierrez-Guzman served as a representative of one of the world’s wealthiest and deadliest drug organizations.”
In addition to his prison sentence, Gutierrez-Guzman was fined $10,000. Feith said he will be deported to Mexico upon his release.
Guzman's drug gang has smuggled billions of dollars worth of drugs into the United States and is blamed for thousands of deaths through addiction and gang violence.
The US government announced on August 5 a $5million reward for information leading to the recapture of Guzman.
The US also set up a tip line for information about the kingpin, who escaped 'Shawshank'-style from prison last month via a sophisticated mile-long tunnel that opened up in his cell's shower. The tip line is being managed by the DEA's San Diego field office.
The acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Chuck Rosenberg, said he believes Guzman is still in Mexico, probably hiding in his home state of Sinaloa. He added, however, that the drug lord could be anywhere.
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