Posted on 11/19/2008 1:09:28 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY — Interpol is sending a special investigative team to Mexico to determine whether sensitive information from its database on criminals and terrorists was leaked to drug cartels, the agency said Wednesday.
Interpol launched the probe after Mexican federal police official Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas was placed under house arrest as part of an investigation of law enforcement officers who allegedly shared police information with traffickers.
Gutierrez Vargas directed the international police agency's National Central Bureau in Mexico, where he had access to Interpol's database of information on suspected terrorists, wanted persons, fingerprints and DNA profiles, among other data, the Lyon, France-based agency said.
Interpol's Web site says that officers of the National Central Bureaus are connected to its police communications network so they can share crucial information on criminals and criminal activities daily.
Staffers from Interpol's General Secretariat plan to meet with Mexican authorities and determine if there was any improper use of Interpol's systems. Meanwhile, the agency is standing by its man in Mexico: "Interpol can categorically state that it has never been given any reason to question the integrity of Mr. Gutierrez Vargas."
Gutierrez Vargas, the director for International Police Affairs and Interpol at Mexico's Federal Investigative Agency, is only the latest high-ranking Mexican police official to be detained on suspicion of links to the nation's violent drug gangs.
Earlier this month, Rodolfo de la Guardia Garcia, the No. 2 official at the Federal Investigative Agency from 2003-2005, was placed under house arrest pending a probe of allegations he leaked information to the Sinaloa cartel in return for monthly payments.
De la Guardia was elected to Interpol's executive committee in 2002 but was removed from that post by the Mexican government in 2004, Interpol said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
I’m going to go out on a limb here..............GUILTY!
If the Mexicans want to be filthy pigs and take leaks in their offices, that's their choice, ain't it?
Prosecute for corruption and execute for treason.
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