Posted on 08/23/2006 1:28:32 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Mexico's attorney general said Wednesday there will be a wave of arrests of corrupt police on the Mexico-California border following an investigation into a network of officials protecting the Arellano Felix drug trafficking gang, whose alleged leader awaits trial in the United States.
Daniel Cabeza de Vaca told a news conference that the network protected the so-called Tijuana cartel as it smuggled tons of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine over the border to U.S. consumers. The corrupt officers also killed honest colleagues, decapitating three fellow officers in June, he said.
"These criminal groups, especially the Tijuana cartel, depend on the support of corrupt police," Cabeza de Vaca said. "It's very important. It sustains their operations."
On Saturday, federal prosecutors charged officers Jorge Alberto Perez and Salvador Cebreros with taking bribes to protect the Arellano Felix gang. The two officers worked at the police department of Rosarito, Mexico, about 15 miles south of the U.S. border at San Diego.
The policemen also are suspected of involvement in the June killings of three of their fellow officers, Cabeza de Vaca said. The three victims were last seen alive going to the scene of a reported kidnapping in Rosarito. Their heads were later found on a beach in the nearby city of Tijuana, Mexico.
Cabeza de Vaca said Perez and Cebreros were part of a "a big protection network" working for the cartel in both Rosarito and Tijuana. The police forces will be "purified," with all corrupt officers being brought to justice, he said.
"The Tijuana case is an emblematic case for us," he said. "We have information about all of the organization. There are people meeting on it at this moment. ... We are going to work for the complete dismantling" of the cartel.
Last week, the U.S. Coast Guard captured Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, 36, when he was fishing in international waters off the Mexican coast aboard the U.S.-registered sport boat Dock Holiday.
Known in Mexico as "El Tigrillo," or "Little Tiger," Arellano Felix is accused of taking over the Tijuana clan in 2002 when the gang lost two of his older brothers: Benjamin, who was jailed, and Ramon, who was killed.
The sting operation to net Arellano Felix began when Mexican agents back in May shared with their U.S. counterparts the reputed drug trafficker's planned fishing trip, Cabeza de Vaca said.
Arellano is being held in San Diego, where he has pleaded innocent to racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to import and distribute controlled substances and money laundering - charges that could land him up to 40 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said the government also may seek additional charges that would allow for the death penalty.
Mexican agents are in San Diego helping U.S. authorities with the case and interrogating Arellano Felix, Cabeza de Vaca said. The suspect also faces organized crime and drug trafficking charges in Mexico, and Cabeza de Vaca has said authorities here may eventually seek his extradition.
The Arellano Felix gang emerged as a drug powerhouse in the 1980s and by the late 1990s it was believed to be the most powerful cartel in Mexico. But its influence has waned lately as a new generation of gangsters in a cartel known as the Federation have risen to prominence.
Known in Mexico as "El Tigrillo," or "Little Tiger," Arellano Felix is accused of taking over the Tijuana clan in 2002 when the gang lost two of his older brothers: Benjamin, who was jailed, and Ramon, who was killed.
If he had had a beeber like device, Arellano Felix would be a free man today.
There's a lesson here, people.
This image provide by the Department of Justice shows accused drug kingpin Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, in DEA custody as he arrives in San Diego, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006. A court-appointed defense attorney representing Arellano Felix said he does not plan to request bail for his client at a detention hearing scheduled for Monday, Aug. 21, 2006, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Department of Justice)
This image obtained from the US Department of Justice shows the 'wanted poster' for the leaders of the Tijuana drug cartel. US Justice Department officials said they had severely crippled a leading Mexican drug gang with the arrest of Tijuana cartel head Francisco Javier Arellano Felix.(AFP/DOJ-HO)
Mexico officials have been allowing this to go on for yrs and yrs and yrs....maybe now that our giving money to countries is now tied to certain things like this has caused Mexico officials to at least address this, if it's only talk...we'll see how far they go...
Damn, Mexican cops dirty? Who'd have known?
The whole of the Mexican govt is dirty and on the take.
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