Dirty and deserted, with basic plastic chairs, faded sofas, and hallways piled high with drugs: these never-before-seen pictures show the inside of El Chapo’s safehouse where he spent a squalid existence on the run.
Hidden behind six-inch thick steel doors was the bizarre personal world of the hunted drug lord, complete with a jewel-encrusted handgun carved with his initials and hundreds of fake green bananas used to smuggle cocaine.
That was the sight that met ex-DEA agent Andrew ‘Drew’ Hogan, his partner, ‘Brady’, and a team of Mexican marines, who were poised to capture El Chapo inside his stronghold of Culiacan in February 2014 – but found he’d already left.
Hogan filmed the action on his mobile phone, and described the mission on Inside The Hunt For El Chapo, an episode of NBC’s Dateline series anchored by Lester Holt, which airs at 7pm (ET) on Sunday.
![El Chapo's jewel-encrusted handgun carved with his initials](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38D7100000578-5586785-image-a-52_1523036503801.jpg)
Hidden behind six-inch thick steel doors was the bizarre personal world of the hunted drug lord, complete with a jewel-encrusted handgun carved with his initials
![The lair, in Culiacan, Mexico, also contained hundreds of fake green bananas used to smuggle cocaine](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38DB100000578-5586785-image-m-53_1523036516547.jpg)
The lair, in Culiacan, Mexico, also contained hundreds of fake green bananas used to smuggle cocaine
![This was the sight that met ex-DEA agent Andrew 'Drew' Hogan, his partner, 'Brady', and a team of Mexican marines, who were poised to capture El Chapo (pictured in an undated image) inside his stronghold of Culiacan in February 2014 - but found he'd already left](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38D7500000578-5586785-image-m-54_1523036526377.jpg)
This was the sight that met ex-DEA agent Andrew ‘Drew’ Hogan, his partner, ‘Brady’, and a team of Mexican marines, who were poised to capture El Chapo (pictured in an undated image) inside his stronghold of Culiacan in February 2014 – but found he’d already left
Disappointment was far from the minds of Hogan and Brady when they began their mission that day, together with a team of 50 Mexican marines and U.S. agents assembled for what was set to be the drugs bust of the century.
The squad was acting on intelligence that Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman – a man responsible for countless murders and untold suffering – was in the area and hiding out at his heavily-defended lair alongside a stash of weapons.
It begins with grainy footage filmed on a helicopter, which he and Brady used to fly in to the target from their base alongside another group of Mexican marines.
Linking up with the ground team, they crept along a street lined with expensive cars before reaching the steel front door, which took 15 minutes to break down before they were able to swarm inside.
The agents went from room to room and found them all empty, with the mass of discarded possessions showing just how close they had come to catching the kingpin.
A black sack spilled open to reveal hundreds of green bananas, which were ready to be stuffed full of cocaine so they could be smuggled into the USA.
![Hogan described the basic interior: 'They had Walmart-style plastic tables and chairs, none of the trappings you would expect from a drug lord'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38D8100000578-5586785-image-a-39_1523036321624.jpg)
Hogan described the basic interior: ‘They had Walmart-style plastic tables and chairs, none of the trappings you would expect from a drug lord’
![Hogan and his partner, Brady, sit on a faded sofa next to a small television inside El Chapo's stronghold](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/19/4AE38D6500000578-5586785-Hogan_and_his_partner_Brady_sit_on_a_faded_sofa_next_to_a_small_-a-1_1523038603461.jpg)
Hogan and his partner, Brady, sit on a faded sofa next to a small television inside El Chapo’s stronghold
![A black sack spilled open to reveal hundreds of green bananas, which were ready to be stuffed full of cocaine so they could be smuggled into the USA](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/19/4AE38DA900000578-5586785-A_black_sack_spilled_open_to_reveal_hundreds_of_green_bananas_wh-a-2_1523038603475.jpg)
A black sack spilled open to reveal hundreds of green bananas, which were ready to be stuffed full of cocaine so they could be smuggled into the USA
![Hundreds of packets stuffed full of narcotics lie in the hallway, where they had been abandoned in a hurry](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38DB600000578-5586785-image-a-42_1523036347319.jpg)
Hundreds of packets stuffed full of narcotics lie in the hallway, where they had been abandoned in a hurry
![There were also dozens of weapons, including heavy machine guns mounted on tripods](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38DBD00000578-5586785-image-a-58_1523036593332.jpg)
There were also dozens of weapons, including heavy machine guns mounted on tripods
![Hogan (pictured) filmed the action on his mobile phone](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38D8900000578-5586785-image-a-65_1523036651752.jpg)
![Hogan is pictured on the right wearing one of El Chapo's black baseball caps](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/19/4AE38D7900000578-5586785-Hogan_is_pictured_on_the_right_wearing_one_of_El_Chapo_s_black_b-a-3_1523038603596.jpg)
Hogan (left) filmed the action on his mobile phone, and described the mission on Inside The Hunt For El Chapo. He is pictured on the right wearing one of El Chapo’s black baseball caps
There were also dozens of weapons – ranging from heavy machine guns mounted on tripods to the now 61-year-old’s very own bejewelled handgun.
But overall Hogan was shocked by the squalor of the place, telling the documentary: ‘I was surprised, he really afforded himself no luxuries. Each safehouse was the same type of construction, very basic.
‘They had Walmart-style plastic tables and chairs, none of the trappings you would expect from a drug lord.’
Although Hogan made off with one of El Chapo’s signature caps, he had missed the big prize that day.
But the gangster could not hide for long, and was eventually tracked down to the beach resort of Mazatlan later that year.
![Hogan's footage begins with grainy footage filmed on a helicopter, which he and Brady used to fly in to the target from their base alongside another group of Mexican marines](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38D9500000578-5586785-image-m-59_1523036595342.jpg)
![A view from the helicopter Hogan was flying in](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/19/4AE38D9100000578-5586785-A_view_from_the_helicopter_Hogan_was_flying_in-a-4_1523038603730.jpg)
Hogan’s footage begins with grainy footage filmed on a helicopter, which he and Brady used to fly in to the target from their base alongside another group of Mexican marines
![Disappointment was far from the minds of Hogan and Brady when they began their mission that day, together with a team of 50 Mexican marines and U.S. agents assembled for what was set to be the drugs bust of the century](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/19/4AE38D8D00000578-5586785-Disappointment_was_far_from_the_minds_of_Hogan_and_Brady_when_th-a-7_1523038603805.jpg)
Disappointment was far from the minds of Hogan and Brady when they began their mission that day, together with a team of 50 Mexican marines and U.S. agents assembled for what was set to be the drugs bust of the century
![Linking up with the ground team, they crept along a street lined with expensive cars before reaching the steel front door](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/19/4AE38D9D00000578-5586785-Linking_up_with_the_ground_team_they_crept_along_a_street_lined_-a-5_1523038603770.jpg)
Linking up with the ground team, they crept along a street lined with expensive cars before reaching the steel front door
![Plastic containers joined together with tape which were full of items picked up during the raid](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AE38DA500000578-5586785-image-a-66_1523036688323.jpg)
Plastic containers joined together with tape which were full of items picked up during the raid
For the first face-to-face meeting Hogan wore his very own black baseball cap, and ran up to the drug lord and yelling: ‘What’s up, Chapo?’
Hogan said from that moment he knew he was going to tell his story at some point, and chose to write about the exhaustive and enthralling hunt in a new book, called ‘Hunting El Chapo.’
On Wednesday he spoke about the book for the first time publicly in an interview on the Today Show, and will give further details during Dateline on Sunday.
He also shared a personal photo from those thrilling years of his life of the moment he caught El Chapo, in which the drug lord can be seen frowning with Hogan and another agent behind him and posing for the camera.
The former DEA agent called that day he met El Chapo a ‘souvenir of the hunt,’ explaining he plucked it from another place where Chapo had been hiding out.
For more than a decade El Chapo had been shepherded from safe house to safe house by the Sinaloa Cartel, which he headed.
![But he said that once they sat down and 'looked at the details,' they were finally able to catch him. He said he and other agents paired up and looked at his personal secretary's cellphone data to determine where Chapo was being kept. He, Chapo and another agent are pictured in 2014 after the capture](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/04/18/4AD2F3CA00000578-5578631-image-a-33_1522863875589.jpg)
But he said that once they sat down and ‘looked at the details,’ they were finally able to catch him. He said he and other agents paired up and looked at his personal secretary’s cellphone data to determine where Chapo was being kept. He, Chapo and another agent are pictured in 2014 after the capture
![For the first face-to-face meeting he wore a black baseball cap belonging to the now 61-year-old, and said he ran up to the drug lord and excitedly yelled: 'What's up, Chapo?'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/04/18/4AD2DA5C00000578-5578631-image-m-47_1522863955270.jpg)
For the first face-to-face meeting he wore a black baseball cap belonging to the now 61-year-old, and said he ran up to the drug lord and excitedly yelled: ‘What’s up, Chapo?’
The organisation is one of the main cartels responsible for trafficking billions of dollars worth of cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and opioids across the border into the United States.
For years El Chapo was at least one step ahead of agents, Hogan said.
But he said that once they sat down and ‘looked at the details,’ they were finally able to catch him.
‘We began intercepting members of Chapo’s inner circle, and really dismantling layers within a sophisticated structure until we got to the top, where I had his personal secretary’s device, who was standing right next to him, and I could ping that,’ Hogan told Today’s Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday.
![Hogan said from that moment he knew he was going to tell his story at some point, and chose to write about the exhaustive and enthralling hunt in a new book, called 'Hunting El Chapo'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/04/18/4AD2E40B00000578-5578631-image-a-45_1522863943577.jpg)
Hogan said from that moment he knew he was going to tell his story at some point, and chose to write about the exhaustive and enthralling hunt in a new book, called ‘Hunting El Chapo’
By looking at that information agents could determine the pattern of where El Chapo was being hidden.
‘It was in the details, in the numbers,’ he said. ‘The phone numbers don’t lie.’
The clues eventually lead them to the hotel in Mazatlan, where marines banged on the door of his room.
The kingpin gave in without a fight – putting his arms up above his head and allowing himself to be arrested.
Hogan said he knew El Chapo had finally been caught when he started to hear excited radio chatter chanting: ‘They got him! They got the target!’
He then drove to the underground parking lot where the gangster was being held, and Dew got the chance to chat to the man he had spent so long searching for.
For a brief moment they even locked eyes, he said.
‘I ran up to him and jumped into his face and said the first thing that came to my head and I screamed, what’s up, Chapo?’ Hogan said.
But within 16 months he escaped again in a similarly dramatic fashion after tunnelling below the shower in his cell at a maximum-security prison in Mexico.
Hogan said he wasn’t shocked, explaining that he knew the guards were going to have to keep him completely on lockdown if they didn’t want him to escape.
‘It was pretty predictable,’ Hogan explained.
![Within 16 months of his capture in 2014, Guzman escaped again in a similarly dramatic fashion after tunneling below the shower in his cell at a maximum-security prison in Mexico](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/04/18/4AD2DB7C00000578-5578631-image-a-36_1522863896995.jpg)
![Hogan said he wasn't shocked, explaining that he knew the guards were going to have to keep him completely on lockdown if they didn't want him to escape](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/19/4AD2DB9600000578-5586785-Hogan_said_he_wasn_t_shocked_explaining_that_he_knew_the_guards_-a-6_1523038603784.jpg)
Within 16 months of his capture in 2014, Guzman escaped again in a similarly dramatic fashion after tunneling below the shower in his cell at a maximum-security prison in Mexico
![Six months after the escape he was captured again. That time agents were helped by informants, satellite images and intercepted cellphone communications. He is pictured after his extradition from Mexico to the United States in 2017](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/06/18/4AD2DB4E00000578-5586785-Six_months_after_the_escape_he_was_captured_again_That_time_agen-a-50_1523036480722.jpg)
Six months after the escape he was captured again. That time agents were helped by informants, satellite images and intercepted cellphone communications. He is pictured after his extradition from Mexico to the United States in 2017
‘This tunnel that went underneath the prison was the same type of tunnels that went under the safe houses, the same tunnels that were at the US/ Mexico border.’
Six months after the escape he was captured again. That time agents were helped by informants, satellite images and intercepted cellphone communications.
The drug lord was extradited to the United States in 2016 so he could stand trial on charges of running the largest drug-trafficking cartel in the world.
The cartel is also said to be responsible for hundreds of murders in the United States and Mexico.
El Chapo is currently being held in near-isolation at a federal facility in New York.
Dateline Sunday’s Inside the Hunt for El Chapo airs on April 8 at 7pm ET and 6pm CT