President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, on Friday said that Mexican soldiers have released the son of jailed drug boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman after his arrest sparked gun battles in Culiacan in the north-west.
“The situation became very difficult and many citizens were at risk,’’ Lopez Obrador said at a news conference in Oaxaca in the south of the country.
“The capture of a criminal cannot be worth more than people’s lives,’’ he added.
Ovidio Guzman Lopez was identified in a residential building which was being used to shoot at soldiers on patrol, Security Minister Alfredo Durazo said earlier.
Several groups of organised criminals then surrounded the house, forcing security forces to abandon their position because they were outnumbered, the minister added. (NAN)