El Chapo: Argentina on high alert for fugitive drug lord

The Argentine government is acting on a tip that fugitive Mexican drug boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman could be in the South American nation,the South American country'stop security official said Friday

Security Minister Sergio Berni saidauthorities have"received information that 'El Chapo' tried to cross the Chilean-Argentine border."

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Berni saidthat extra federal agents were being sent to the border while the information was being analyzed.

He did not elaborate on the source of the tip, nor did he specify where where the attempt was made along the long border which includes the Andes mountain range and large swaths of thick Patagonian forest other than to say it was in the "southern" part of the country.

Guzman, thehead of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel,has twice escaped maximum-security prisons, most recently in July.

Several American officials, including lawmakers and law enforcement officials, had called for Guzman's transfer to the U.S. since his arrest in February 2014. However, Mexican officials decided Guzman wouldn't be sent to the U.S. until he had served time for all of his crimes in Mexico.

Guzman escaped through a sophisticated 1.6-kilometre tunnel that opened in the floor of his cell's shower. A surveillance video of Guzman's cell shows him walking to the shower where there was a blind spot in the security camera's view crouching down and then vanishing.

Mexico has issued arrest warrants for 23 former officials, guards or police officers accused of participating in his escape. In addition, 10 civilians are being held under a form of house arrest.