MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico to raffle assets belonging to drug lord “El Chapo” Guzmán

The home in Culiacan in Sinaloa state is among the many assets that will be raffled off by Mexico on Sep 15

Mexico's government announced that it will raffle a house belonging to drug lord Joaquín Guzmán, “El Chapo” and where he was arrested in 2014. “El Chapo” head of the Sinaloa cartel is now serving a life sentence in a US high-security prison.

The home in Culiacan in Sinaloa state is among the many assets that will be raffled off by Mexico on Sep 15. The government “payback” consists of 248 different prizes in assets and cash worth a total of 12.5 million dollars, the national lottery officials said.

The house, worth about US$184,000, has a white facade and does not appear luxurious on the outside. On February 16, 2014, Guzman escaped a manhunt through the house's underground drainage system, though six days later he was captured in the city of Mazatlan, also in Sinaloa.

Guzman was sent to a top security prison in 2015, but he also escaped from there. The elusive drug lord was finally arrested in 2016 and extradited the following year to the United States, where he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison two years later.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tried earlier to auction off the assets, promising to use the money for education and other priorities, but that plan did not pan out.

In addition to the Guzman house, the raffle will also include a mansion in Pedregal, south of Mexico City, that belonged to former Juarez cartel leader Amado Carrillo. It is said to be worth about US$ 3.8 million.