MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Mexican authorities have been holding 35 officials since July for selling intelligence to drug cartels, for payments of up to 400,000 dollars, the federal prosecutor revealed on Monday.
"Thirty-five public officials have been pulled out of the SIEDO (elite anti-organized crime unit) as well as other support staff. The process of the cleaning up and revision of staff and proceedings will continue in a permanent manner," Eduardo Medina Mora told a news conference.
The investigation into the SIEDO officials began in 2004 "after thwarted operations and a formal declaration that public service officers were passing on information from the Sinaloa cartel," said Marisela Morales, head of the SIEDO.
The Mexican government of President Felipe Calderon began a crackdown on drug-trafficking and related violence, including the deployment of some 36,000 troops nationwide, almost two years ago.
But the death toll from gangland-style killings has nonetheless escalated this year, with some 4,000 killed so far, according to national media.
Mexican authorities recently announced the arrests of several high-profile drug traffickers, including an alleged leader of the notorious Arellano Felix cartel, following a shootout in the city of Tijuana near the US border, announced Sunday.
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