Authorities in Lima, Peru uncover 590-foot-long tunnel ‘financed by El Chapo’s old cartel’ that was built in foiled attempt to spring jailed high value drug traffickers

Peruvian jail officials discovered an underground tunnel that was partly built to free a group of drug traffickers from a prison in the capital

The tunnel’s construction was financed by the Sinaloa Cartel, the transnational criminal organization co-founded by El Chapo, police said

The main beneficiary of the botched prison break funded by the Mexican cartel, would have been Serbian drug dealer Zoran Jaksic, who was arrested in 2016 with 800 kilos of cocaine

Jaksic who is serving a 25-year sentence and a Mexican man jailed for drug trafficking had signed off on the plan to build the ‘prison break’ tunnel, police said

Plans to complete the secret passageway were halted in February 2019 when Jaksic was transferred to another prison amid rumors of an impending escape

Authorities in Peru uncovered an underground tunnel that was partly constructed to aid in the jail escape of a group of drug traffickers, including a Serbian man with connections to Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s old Sinaloa Cartel.
Peruvian agents discovered the secret passageway Monday near the Miguel Castro Castro Prison in the Lima district of San Juan de Lurigancho.
According to the National Police of Peru, construction began about a year and a half ago after a Colombian national rented a property located only several hundred feet away from the prison.

Police discover tunnel leading to Castro prison for drug traffickers in Lima, Peru

A National Police of Peru investigator inspected a tunnel discovered near the Miguel Castro Castro Prison in Lima on Monday.
The tunnel was financed allegedly by the Sinaloa Cartel to aid in the escape of Serbian drug trafficker Zoran Jaksic and other prisoners.
Peruvian news network America Noticias reported that Serbian drug dealer Zoran Jaksic and a Mexican man jailed for drug trafficking had signed off on the plan to build the tunnel.

Initial findings revealed that the cartel employed between four to six workers who built the 590-foot long tunnel at a depth of 33 feet that was intended to lead the inmates to the prison’s cafeteria area. 
Residents of the neighborhood told authorities that construction work was generally executed in at night and that it was common to see dump trucks driving in and out of the property to carry away the excess rubble that had been cleared out from underground.
‘I have canvassed the entire tunnel, it is approximately 180 meters [590 feet] long. There is a split to the left 130 meters [426 feet] out,’ National Police of Peru Command General César Cervantes said.
‘We had to use an excavator to confirm the route. We have also found some evidence of what they have been working with.’  

Peruvian authorities say the construction of the tunnel was financed by the Sinaloa Cartel.
Plans to complete it were halted in February 2019 when Zoran Jaksic was transferred to a different prison amidst rumors of a possible escape

Authorities believe that the cartel also brought in engineers from Mexico and hired workers from Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia to dig out the tunnel. 
However, plans to complete the tunnel were halted in February 2019 after Jaksic was transferred to a different prison amidst rumors of a possible escape, authorities said.

At least six other prisoners from Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico have been transferred from the jail since the existence of the tunnel was uncovered. 
Serbian drug dealer Zoran Jaksic was detained in Peru in July 2016 as part of an investigation in which almost 800 kilos of cocaine were going to be shipped and sold outside the Andean nation by the drug trafficking syndicate, Grupo América.
Dubbed the Peruvian law enforcement as ‘The man with 40 false identities’, Jaksic reportedly came to Peru to acquire large quantities of drugs for distribution in several countries.
The work ceasing on construction of the tunnel coincided with the decision of the prison authorities to transfer the Serb to the Piedras Gordas prison.