Pubdate: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Contact: PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191 Fax: (619) 293-1440 Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/ Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX Author: Anna Cearley, Staff Writer SHOTS FIRED NEAR HOME OF BAJA CALIFORNIA'S TOP DRUG INVESTIGATOR Tijuana Resident Works For Mexican Attorney General TIJUANA - Assailants sprayed bullets near the home of Baja California's anti-drug czar late Thursday night, but no one was injured. Alberto Ramos Ramos' staff downplayed the shooting, saying it was not an attempt on Ramos' life. "He is here; he is fine; he is working," said Irma Garcia, an assistant in the attorney general's communications department. As state representative of the Mexican federal Attorney General's Office, Ramos oversees investigations of much of the drug-related crime in Baja California. The job can create enemies in a region dominated by the powerful and ruthless Arellano Felix drug cartel. The Attorney General's Office dealt a blow to the cartel last month when soldiers and federal agents detained Jesus "Chuy" Labra, a Tijuana businessman reputed to be a family member of and close adviser to the Arellanos. Labra is under house arrest in Mexico City. This month, three federal agents who participated in the Labra investigation were found dead. They were slain before their car was rolled off a mountain road, the Mexican Attorney General's Office determined. Little information about the shooting near Ramos' home was available yesterday from law enforcement agencies. The shooting occurred about 11 p.m. in the Colinas de Agua Caliente neighborhood, Tijuana police said. Ramos' car reportedly was damaged. "There were no people wounded," said Tijuana police spokesman Lorenzo Garibay, dismissing reports in the Tijuana media that a security guard had been shot in the head. State and city police agents referred requests for further information to the federal Attorney General's Office in Tijuana. That office did not have any further comment. Ramos has been working in Tijuana less than six months. The normally reticent official appeared in public with the Baja California attorney general in March when they pledged to work together more closely after the shooting death of Tijuana police chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez in late February. State investigators are in charge of the de la Torre case and most other homicides. If a drug connection is found, the cases are handed over to federal investigators. State investigators say they believe, but cannot yet prove, that de la Torre was killed by a drug group from Sinaloa trying to muscle its way into the Arellano Felix cartel's turf. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D