Mexico City, Mexico — Out of 30 inmates that escaped from a Mexico City prison on January 1, 17 remain fugitives. On Friday morning, the Undersecretary of Public Security, Luis Rodríguez Bucio, said 17 of the inmates who escaped from Cereso No. 3 are still out there.
To date, nine of the escapees have been recaptured while a total of four died in clashes with police days after their escape.
Rodríguez Bucio said that the brazen January 1 prison break that took place at the prison in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua was intended to release a gang leader. That criminal gang leader, who was identified as Ernesto Alberto Piñón de La Cruz, was killed January 5 during a clash with police in a recapture attempt of escaped prisoners.
The now-deceased gang leader headed Los Mexicles, a criminal group related to the Caborca Cartel, a splinter of the Sinaloa Cartel that operates in Sonora and Chihuahua. He was serving a sentence of more than 200 years.
