Acapulco, Guerrero - Marines and federal law enforcement agents arrested 25 police officers, including three command-level officers, in Acapulco, a city in the Mexican Pacific state of Guerrero, but officials did not say why the officers were detained.
Guerrero Gov. Zeferino Torreblanca confirmed that the officers were arrested, but he did not provide any details, saying only that his government would not tolerate actions that violated the law.
The municipal police officers were taken to the 8th Naval Zone facility in Acapulco.
The officers were detained when they arrived early Tuesday at the residence of Acapulco city council secretary-general Vicente Trujillo Sandoval in response to a supposed shooting report.
The officers’ relatives went to the 8th Naval Zone base to request information about their cases.
Carmen Nicolas Camacho and Ema Luna Garcia, the mothers of officers Eduardo Jimenez Nicolas and Javier Luna, respectively, said their sons were mistreated by the marines and they planned to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.
The federal government has been trying to purge Mexico’s municipal and state police forces, which are suspected of having been infiltrated by drug traffickers, of crooked cops for some time.
Acapulco has been the scene of several shootouts recently between the security forces and gunmen working for the drug cartels that operate in the area.
A shootout on April 14 between police and gunmen left six people dead. The gunfight occurred on Miguel Aleman Avenue, one of the main streets in the Pacific resort city.
Pedestrians ran into hotels and shops to escape the shooting, while motorists tried to drive away, causing a 15-vehicle pile-up.
The shootout lasted about 10 minutes, eyewitnesses said.
Over the weekend, unidentified individuals threw two hand grenades at the state police headquarters in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, the Public Safety Secretariat said.
One of the grenades exploded, damaging a police SUV.
“Three other unexploded grenades” were found in the city, including one at an ATM next to city hall, the secretariat said, adding that the other grenades were discovered in front of a police station and in the gardens across from city hall.
Guerrero state has been the scene of a war in recent months between gunmen from the Beltran Leyva cartel and members of the Edgar Valdes Villarreal gang over control of the drug trade in Acapulco.
Seems whether it is illegal immigrants;drugs or guns,
ReplyDeleteour border with Mexico needs to be sealed by any means necessary. Unfortunately Sec.State Clinton was
correct and stepped on some toes. Good for her.