TEMPO.CO, Mexico City - After eluding capture for more than a dozen years, the legendary boss of one of the world's most powerful and deadly drug trafficking operations was nabbed in a surprise raid on a seaside hotel-condominium tower in a bustling Mexican beach resort, authorities said.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who infamously escaped in 2001 from a high-security prison in a laundry cart, was arrested early Saturday in Mazatlan without a single shot being fired, authorities said.

A U.S. law enforcement official told CNN that Guzman, accompanied by a female, was captured in a joint operation of Mexican marines and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents that was in the works for four or five weeks.

The pressure on Guzman's organization, the Sinaloa cartel, had been mounting for months, with Mexican authorities killing or capturing several of its most brutal lieutenants, a U.S. law enforcement official said.

Those operations yielded information, including cell phone and other data, that helped Mexican authorities and U.S. drug enforcement agents track Guzman down.

At a Mexico City news conference, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said authorities came close to capturing Guzman, believed to be in his mid-50s, earlier this month.

Guzman apparently moved around several Mazatlan homes connected by an elaborate network of tunnels also linked to the city's sewage system, Murillo Karam said. The doors of the seven homes were reinforced with steel, he said, which enabled Guzman to escape via the tunnels before marines could break down the doors.

On other occasions, authorities decided against attempting to apprehend Guzman in public places at the popular beach resort.

Murillo Karam said forensic experts had "100%" confirmation of Guzman's identity. Authorities also seized a weapon's cache including 97 large guns, 36 handguns, 2 grenade launchers and a rocket launcher.

Mexican government footage showed a handcuffed Guzman, with a dark mustache, being escorted by masked marines in Mexico City.

A U.S. Homeland Security official said key intelligence in the capture came from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation.

Phil Jordan, who spent three decades with the DEA and headed the agency's El Paso Intelligence Center, said the arrest represents a huge blow to the Sinaloa cartel.

"It is a significant arrest, provided he gets extradited immediately to the United States," Jordan told CNN. "If he does not get extradited, then he will be allowed to escape within a period of time.

In Washington, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the arrest "a landmark achievement, and a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States."

"Guzman was one of the world's most wanted men and the alleged head of a drug-running empire that spans continents," Holder said in a statement. "The criminal activity Guzman allegedly directed contributed to the death and destruction of millions of lives across the globe through drug addiction, violence and corruption."

CNN | ABDUL MANAN