Mexico to try 18 police officers after kidnapping of federal agents

Mexico to try 18 police officers after kidnapping of federal agents

Posted on Jul 30, 2007 in News & Views by PMC Comments Off

MEXICO CITY – A Mexican judge ordered 18 police officers to stand trial on charges of aiding drug traffickers as the result of an investigation into the kidnapping of four federal agents, prosecutors said Saturday.Several of the officers from Guadalupe, near the northern city of Monterrey, are also charged with abducting the agents on behalf of the band of Gulf cartel hit men known as the Zetas, the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.

The federal officers were nabbed April 17 in the U.S.-Mexico border city of Reynosa, and local media reported they were being taken to the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon, where Guadalupe is located. They were later freed.

Most of the suspects are not accused of involvement in the kidnapping, but allegedly provided protection to a group of “hawks,” or drug gang informants.

“Their function was to become ‘the eyes of the city, lookouts to keep the criminal organization of the Zetas informed,’” the Attorney General’s Office said. Three of the suspected lookouts are also in jail.