The trial of drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is to begin in New York under intense security.

Axar.az reports citing BBC that Guzmán was arrested in January 2016 after escaping from prison through a tunnel five months earlier.

The Mexican is accused of being behind the all-powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, which prosecutors say was the biggest supplier of drugs to the States.

Key associates, including one of his former lieutenants, are expected to testify against him.

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán - once one of the world's richest men - ran the Sinaloa drug cartel in northern Mexico. He was captured in January 2016, having escaped twice from jails in Mexico.