How Joaquin Guzman and the world's most wanted men were caught

How Joaquin Guzman and the world's most wanted men were caught. He rose from the being the son of a peasant farmer to become the world’s most powerful drug lord.

Not only did he grab a spot on the Forbes’ billionaires’ list but he became known as the man too powerful to catch after evading authorities for more than 13 years.

But that all changed this week when Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was finally arrested by Mexican marines at a resort in Mazatlan, northern Mexico following an incredible and complex sting.

The Sinaloa cartel leader had been hunted by US and Mexican anti-drug agencies since escaping from a prison van in 2001 and had reportedly lived everywhere from Argentina to Mexico’s “Golden Triangle,” a mountainous, marijuana-growing region straddling the northern states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua.

His cartel grew deadlier and more powerful over the years, even taking over lucrative traffic routes across the US border with his empire reaching as far as Europe and Australia.

Last year the Chicago Crime Commission named the 56-year-old as “Public Enemy No. 1”, with Prohibition-era crime boss Al Capone the only other person to earn the title.

But Guzman isn’t the only man who escaped justice for so long.

Here are some other notable mentions:

Osama bin Laden

Once the world’s most wanted man until he was shot is shot dead in May 2011, Bin Laden had avoided capture since escaping Afghanistan during the US invasion in 2001.

Wanted over various terrorist crimes, notably the September 11 attacks, he arrived in Pakistan in the spring or summer of 2002, and stayed there for more than nine years.

It wasn’t until May 2011 that US President Barack Obama declared “we got him” after Bin Laden was tracked down to a fortified compound in the north-western town of Abbottabad.

It was there he was finally shot dead by US Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011 during a top secret raid near Pakistan’s military academy.

The SEALS yell the codeword “Geronimo!” on killing their target.

His body was later dumped at sea.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

The mad dog dictator who ruled Libya with an iron fist for 42 years pleaded don’t shoot, don’t shoot as he was dragged from a drain where he had been hiding from rebel forces in October 2011 after months on the run.

Gaddafi was hunted down by rebels as he tried to flee his hometown of Sirte in a convoy of jeeps.

Graphic video footage showing his last moments before he was killed was broadcast around the world. In it he was surrounded by soldiers, clearly wounded and covered in blood.

Barack Obama said the dictator’s death marked the end of a “long and painful chapter” for the people of Libya and he hoped it was the start of new democracy.

Not only was Gaddafi associated with some of the most horrific terrorist atrocities pre-9/11 but he also shipped arms to the IRA and accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.

Despite various assassination attempts, sanctions and US air strikes, he clung to power until Libyans finally tore up against him in February 2011.

He responded with brutal repression, sparking a bloody civil war which ended in his brutal death.

Malcolm Naden

Wanted over the murders of two women, Malcolm Naden sparked the biggest manhunt in NSW history and spent seven years on the run avoiding capture by living in rugged bushland.

But Naden, who was tracked for more than 2460 days was finally caught after walking towards Moppy Valley, near Gloucester, and being captured on film by a secret police surveillance “bush cam”.

The fugitive, wanted in connection with the brutal killings of Dubbo mother Kristy Scholes and his cousin Lateesha Nolan, was finally arrested in a remote rundown cabin in March 2012.

He was also charged with the attempted murder of police officer Brad McFadden in December 2011, after evading capture in bushland near the village of Nowendoc in the NSW Northern Tablelands.

Naden stole clothing and supplies during his time on the run, avoiding contact with people with police describing their search for Naden as “almost like looking for a ghost”.

When he was finally captured he reportedly told police “I would kill again”.

He is now serving a life sentence in Goulburn’s maximum security prison.

Saddam Hussein

When former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed in December 2006, the country and the west rejoiced after decades of tyrannic rule.

Patriotic music with images of national monuments and other landmarks was broadcast on state run television when the news was read out.

The man who was hunted down over horrific war crimes was hanged along with his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar.

Saddam, who was found guilty last of ordering the murder of 148 Shia villagers in 1982, shouted “God is great” and “Long live the Iraqi people” as he was sentenced to death.

The man who ruled Iraq with an iron fist from 1979 until 2003, was finally captured by American forces at a farmhouse in ad-Dawr near Tikrit.

He was dragged filthy from an underground hole in August 2003, almost six months after his regime fell.