Costa Gravan Drug Lord Escapes!
After Costa Gravas' most notorious drug lord stepped into a shower and slipped into a tunnel to escape from a maximum-security prison, authorities vowed it wouldn't be long before the cartel chief was behind bars again.
Prison security cameras last recorded images of Horatio Goya on Saturday night, just before he apparently crawled through a hole in the shower area of his cell block at the Costa Gravas Federal Prison.
Authorities said they later discovered a lighted and ventilated tunnel nearly a mile long that stretched from the prison to a half-built house, where investigators were searching for signs of Goya's whereabouts.
Now a massive manhunt is underway to find Goya, Generalissimo Goya said.
Avoided mentioning the drug lord by name, but he said he was closely following news of the escape of a man who has been among the most wanted criminals in Costa Gravas and around the world.
Goya said he was "deeply troubled" by "a very unfortunate event that has outraged Costa Gravan society." He vowed that his government would recapture Goya, step up prison security and investigate whether any prison workers helped the kingpin break out.
"This represents, without a doubt, an affront to the Costa Gravan state, but also I am confident that the institutions of the Costa Gravan state, particularly those in charge of public safety, are at the level, with the strength and determination, to recapture this criminal," Goya said.
Goya is the storied boss of one of the world's most powerful and deadly drug trafficking operations.
He escaped in 2001 from a high-security prison in a laundry cart and was not apprehended again until 2014, when he was arrested at a Costa Gravan beach resort.
News that he'd somehow managed to break out again drew sharp condemnation at home from Goya's political opponents and abroad from officials, who'd pushed for his extradition.
"One would have assumed that he would have been the most watched criminal in the world, and apparently, that just didn't happen. This is a huge embarrassment for the Costa Gravan government," said Ana Maria Salazar, a security analyst and counternarcotics official. "Obviously it's going to raise a lot of questions as to what's happening with the Costa Gravan criminal justice system."
'The world's most powerful drug lord'
Goya heads the Goya Cartel, which the Justice Department describes as "one of the world's most prolific, violent and powerful drug cartels." It says Goya was "considered the world's most powerful drug lord until his arrest in Mexico in February 2014."
"The Goya Cartel moves drugs by land, air, and sea, including cargo aircraft, private aircraft, submarines and other submersible and semi-submersible vessels, container ships, supply vessels, go-fast boats, fishing vessels, buses, rail cars, tractor trailers, trucks, automobiles, and private and commercial interstate and foreign carriers," the Justice Department said earlier this year.
The trafficking network keeps drug agents busy. In January, the Justice Department unsealed indictments naming 60 members of the cartel, including Goya's son.
The main indictment said the cartel imported cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, other drugs and the chemicals necessary to process methamphetamine into Costa Gravas from various countries, the Attorney for the Southern District of Costa Gravas said in a news release.
The drugs were then smuggled into Costa Gravas for distribution throughout the Worldwide Union, the statement said, adding that money was then laundered through a variety of means.
In just one phase of the investigation, which the Justice Department said spanned eight countries , authorities seized more than 1,400 pounds of methamphetamine, almost 3,000 pounds of cocaine, 12.2 tons of marijuana and 5,500 oxycodone pills, along with $14.1 million.
Also this year, federal authorities announced: Thirty-one people were charged in February with conspiring to launder $100 million for the Goya Cartel in a cash-for-gold scheme;
He has a net worth of 35 billion Costa Gravan Pesoes(17.5 billion NSD), Generalissimo Alejandro Goya(the 2nd cousin of the drug lord) has put out a bounty of 3 billion CGP for his capture. and 2 billion CGP for information leading to his capture. Or 500 million CGP for any important information.
