Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.uniontrib.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386 Author: Anna Cearley Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Mexico FOX ADDS HUNDREDS OF POLICE TO DRUG FIGHT Border-Crime Battle Given High Priority TIJUANA - Hundreds of federal police arrived in Baja California yesterday to root out drug traffickers as part of the Fox administration's latest effort to attack crime in this border state. The police are expected to be assigned to Tijuana and Mexicali. Exact numbers haven't been released, but an official in the federal attorney general's office said two planes arrived yesterday, capable of holding 200 to 300 agents. Other estimates placed the number as high as 1,000. This is the second time since Vicente Fox became Mexico's president that the government has sent a large contingency of federal police to the Baja California border. As before, their arrival is expected to touch off a wave of house raids and traffic stops. The federal police will work with other law enforcement agencies to support ongoing work, but they will also undertake their own actions and investigations. They are expected to target areas close to the border, where drug dealers often set up shop. Fox has made crime-fighting along the border a high priority for his administration, and he emphasized his commitment to the effort when he visited Tijuana on Jan. 9. Last January, 770 federal police were sent to the border after Fox vowed to "eradicate crime" in Tijuana. Their two-week presence raised hopes that some high-level drug traffickers, perhaps even the leaders of the Arellano Felix drug cartel, would be captured. But the results of their work were far less dramatic. State officials said the visiting police helped state agents detain 12 people and recover 12 stolen cars. They also helped uncover a drug manufacturing lab and handled an arrest warrant, according to the State Attorney General's Office. During their stay, Baja California Human Rights Office officials said the office received at least three complaints about officers from the Federal Preventive Police breaking into homes and, in one case, stealing items. But state authorities said that they found no evidence that the intruders were federal police and that they could have been been members of other law enforcement agencies. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake