http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/DN-tro ops_23int.ART.State.Edition1.37bf57c.html
Drug operation targets police Mexican elite soldiers raid stations in search for cartel links 07:58 AM CST on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 By LAURENCE ILIFF / The Dallas Morning News [EMAIL PROTECTED] MEXICO CITY Elite army soldiers took over police stations along Mexico's border with Texas on Tuesday, disarming police, checking for unregistered weapons and searching patrol cars and personal vehicles for any items that might link the officers to drug cartels, according to an official and the Mexican media. <http://www.dallasnews.com/bi/images/clikEnlarge.gif> GREGORY BULL/The Associated Press <http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/v3/01-23-2008.ni_23SinaloaM exico.GB42ASCOE.1.jpg> GREGORY BULL/The Associated Press Police commandos seized dozens of weapons in Mexico City on Tuesday and arrested 11 people whom officials linked to the Sinaloa cartel. Among the weapons were 20 military-style assault rifles that can be used only by the armed forces. Special-forces soldiers wearing ski masks took control of police stations in Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros and other cities in Tamaulipas state during the morning change of shifts, said an official and local residents who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The police officers were being held, pending verification of their weapons. Mexico City newspaper Reforma put the total number at more than 500 officers in Tamaulipas whose weapons, vehicles and radios were subject to revision. The army last year conducted similar operations in the cities of Tijuana and Monterrey, and in towns in the central and northern states of Michoacan, Sinaloa and Sonora. In those raids, dozens of police were arrested and brought to Mexico City for interrogation. Soldiers also poured into Ciudad Juárez, across from El Paso, setting up checkpoints throughout the city and reportedly carrying out searches of homes for weapons. Some were stationed outside a hospital where a high-ranking state law enforcement official was recuperating from gunshot wounds after being attacked by suspected drug hit men. Juárez authorities last week asked President Felipe Calderón for help in quelling violence that's already killed 29 people in the city this year. Since the beginning of the year, Mr. Calderón and the Mexican army have begun an offensive on the Gulf drug cartel that is based along the Tamaulipas-Texas border and against its rival, the Sinaloa cartel, based in the northern state of the same name. "In the second phase of operations, we are going to exploit the intelligence information gathered during the first year of operations," said Eduardo Cano, a spokesman for the federal Public Security Ministry. A record 170 people have been killed in drug-related violence in the first three weeks of this year, according to the federal Public Security Ministry. The figure for all of January 2007 was 176. On Tuesday, elite police commandos seized an arms cache in safe houses in southern Mexico City and arrested 11 people whom authorities linked to the Sinaloa cartel, which authorities also call the Pacific cartel. The operations in two capital neighborhoods came after Monday's arrest of an alleged top cartel operative, Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, in the Sinaloa capital of Culiacán. Among the weapons captured Tuesday were 20 military-style assault rifles that in Mexico can be used only by the armed forces, a dozen grenade launchers, 20 grenades and 40 bulletproof vests. Also Tuesday, Mexico state police said they had detained four men in Valle de Bravo, 90 miles west of Mexico City. Mexican newspaper El Universal reported that the four were suspected Zetas, former military men turned hit men for the Gulf cartel. The Public Security Ministry said that in the last 10 days, it has captured 50 members of the Gulf cartel, 11 members of the Sinaloa cartel (plus Mr. Beltrán Leyva) and four members of the Arellano Félix cartel based in Tijuana. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
