Mexico's 'El Chapo' taken alive

For 13 years one of the world's most powerful drug lords evaded capture, becoming an almost mythical figure, reputedly transformed by plastic surgery. He was said to roam the mountains of Mexico, protected by corrupt politicians and an omerta code of silence among the locals.

As his cartel flooded the US with cannabis, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, and his henchmen left the headless bodies of rivals by the roadside, Joaqin "El Chapo" Guzmán always seemed to be one step ahead of the law.

As he was hunted, the bounty on the head of the man known as Mexico's Osama bin Laden rose to $7-million.

But, at dawn on Saturday morning, the search ended as a man believed to be the drug kingpin was taken alive without a shot being fired at the Miramar Hotel, in Mazatlán, on the Pacific coast.

The suspect, who was with an unidentified woman, was held by Mexican marines acting on intelligence from the US Drug Enforcement Agency. He was transferred to Mexico City, where DNA and dental records were being used to confirm his identity.

The arrest was confirmed by US government officials.

In Mexico City, a presidential spokesman was more cautious, saying authorities had "captured an individual" whose identity had not been confirmed.

A US security official said: "We've been tracking him for five weeks. Because of that pressure he fled to Mazatlán."

Guzmán, 56, heads the Sinaloa cartel, named after the northwestern Mexican state.

He has a fortune estimated at more than $1-billion by Forbes magazine, which listed him as 67th among the "world's most powerful people", above the presidents of France and Venezuela.

Guzmán was born in the small town of Badiraguato, in Sinaloa.

He joined the Guadalajara cartel in the 1980s and rose through the ranks. In 1993 gunmen from a rival cartel tried to assassinate him at Guadalajara Airport but mistakenly targeted the vehicle of a Roman Catholic cardinal. Days later Guzmán was captured in Guatemala and jailed for 20 years.

In 2001 he escaped by being smuggled out in a laundry basket.

In keeping with the brutality of the Mexican drug war, Guzmán's henchmen carried out bloody crimes, most recently as they fought with the Zetas gang. Mutilated bodies were dumped in the streets.

In Acapulco the beheaded bodies of 14 men were found with notes from the killers signed "El Chapo's People".