Mexico police detain their own commander at gunpoint ( in Ciudad Juarez )

BBC ^ | 8 August 2010 Last updated at 20:48 ET

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Police officers in Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico detained their commander at gunpoint, accusing him of corruption and links to drug gangs.

More than 200 federal police agents raided the hotel where their commander was staying and accused him of planting drugs on police officers to blackmail them into carrying out extortion.

The commander has been suspended, pending an investigation.

Ciudad Juarez is the most violent city in Mexico and corruption is rife.

While some agents blocked off nearby streets to prevent their commander from escaping, others moved into the hotel where he was staying.

They raided his room, where they say they found weapons and drugs.

The federal officers allege that they were part of a stash, which their commander would plant on officers who refused to take part in his corrupt dealings.

They say he would then blackmail the agents into carrying out extortion and other crimes.

[righttackle44]

I wonder if anyone is really in charge there, . . .

Yes, there is. It's a guy who runs a little Mexican ice
cream cart in Nogales, Sonora. He's in charge of his cart,
which he leases, and he's in charge of his ice cream,which
he buys wholesale on the Arizona side of the border.

Other than that, there's no one else in charge.

[Ken H]

Has it changed that much in 5 years? Walters said that for 2004-2005, pot was their "bread and butter". He made no mention of meth. From the Dallas News:

John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said marijuana, not heroin or cocaine, is the "bread and butter," "the center of gravity" for Mexican drug cartels that every year smuggle tons of it through the porous U.S.-Mexico border. Of the $13.8 billion that Americans contributed to Mexican drug traffickers in 2004-05, about 62 percent, or $8.6 billion, comes from marijuana consumption.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022208dnintdrugs.3a98bb0.html

[Mojave]

He must have been bogarting the bribes.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

“... marijuana was long ago eclipsed by meth...among other things.”

I had a good friend who got hooked on meth. He lost his job, and turned to crime. I haven’t heard anthing about him in several years.

He was a good worker till the meth got to him.

[Pining_4_TX]

“Living with Mexico is like owning an MG.”

Ha, ha, you must have experience with owning one. ;-)

[NeverForgetBataan]

“Ha, ha, you must have experience with owning one”

I did not have the direct pleasure to own a MG, but I worked as pit crew for a friend who raced them in SCCA rallies. He owned 3 MGs and a couple of its evil cousin, the Morris Minor.

I wanted a Triumph Spitfire REAL bad, but didn’t get that either.

[Army Air Corps]

It has changed a good deal in five years.