Notorious cartel hired hacker to use surveillance cameras, phone data to track and kill FBI informants, U.S. says

A notorious drug cartel enlisted a hacker who was able to infiltrate phone data and Mexico City's surveillance cameras to help track and kill FBI informants, the U.S. Justice Department has revealed.

The 2018 operation was disclosed Thursday in a 47-page audit by the Justice Department Inspector General, outlining the FBI's "efforts to mitigate the effects of ubiquitous technical surveillance."

The partially redacted report cites a case involving Juaquin "El Chapo" Guzman -- the founder of the infamous Sinaloa cartel. "El Chapo" is now serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in the U.S on multiple conspiracy counts for smuggling vast quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the U.S. for more than a quarter of a century.