If at any point you’ve been on social media today then you might have heard that notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera was recently recaptured after he made an escape from prison last year. Hollywood great Sean Penn actually met with the drug lord when he was on the run and it turns out that BlackBerry Messenger was pivotal to their communications.
BlackBerry always takes pride in the fact that its products, be it software or hardware, primarily focus on safety, security and privacy. It would rather cease operations in a country than agree to government demands for access. It’s no wonder that the company’s products have been staples at government, military and security establishments, even if the average user doesn’t purchase its devices for that reason.
Penn’s account of the meeting and how it came to be has been published by Rolling Stone and there are more than a few references to BlackBerry Messenger. He says that he used the messaging app to send a list of questions to El Chapo.
Mexican actress Kate del Castillo brokered their meeting and she too kept in touch with the drug lord using BBM. The drivers that took Penn to see El Chapo also relied on BBM messages which informed them that the route was clear.
They say there’s no such thing like bad publicity, clearly BlackBerry wouldn’t appreciate being associated with notorious criminals, but BBM is in the spotlight nonetheless since this article has gone viral on the internet.
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