Pubdate: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 Source: Newsday (NY) Copyright: 2002 Newsday Inc. Contact: http://www.newsday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308 Author: Arturo Salinas, Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption) MEXICO CORRUPTION SWEEP NETS COPS TIJUANA, Mexico -- The police officers were expecting to receive an evaluation of their work. Instead, soldiers and federal police stormed a meeting Wednesday at a state police academy in the border city of Tecate, ordering dozens of officers -- including Tijuana's police chief -- to hand over their guns and placing them under arrest. The Baja California governor's office said as many as 120 police were detained, and the federal government's Notimex news agency put the number at about 200. About 50 of them were flown to Mexico City under heavy guard, arriving early Thursday morning, according to reporters at the capital's airport. There had been no comment by the federal attorney general's office. The mass arrest was one of President Vicente Fox's biggest corruption crackdowns and came only weeks after Mexican authorities delivered stunning blows to the powerful Arellano Felix gang that operated in the state for nearly two decades. "The important thing here is that those with responsibility are committed to combating corruption," Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy said. Elorduy did not specify what charges the officers faced, but local media reported they were accused of protecting drug smugglers. State officials had called officers to the state police academy in Tecate to discuss an evaluation of their conduct and their licenses to carry arms, but said they did not know about the arrests until they happened. Among those detained were Tijuana police chief Carlos Otal and his two bodyguards, said Martin Dominguez, Tijuana's public security secretary. The arrested officers were quickly loaded onto planes in Tijuana, which lies 65 miles from Tecate near San Diego, and were flown to Mexico City. The arrests came a day after the U.N. investigator into judicial independence, Param Cumaraswamy, said corruption in the Mexican legal system "continued unabated" despite attempts at reform. Wednesday's arrests follow a flurry of actions against drug smugglers in Baja California state. On March 9, Mexican police arrested Benjamin Arellano Felix, the head of the country's longest-running drug organization. His brother, Ramon, who was on the FBI's 10 most-wanted list, was killed by police on Feb. 10. A few days after Benjamin's detention, officials announced the arrest of Manuel Herrera Barraza, allegedly the principal smuggler for the Arellano Felixes. The cartel is believed to have infiltrated the government, hiring officials to give safe passage to the tons of cocaine and marijuana they moved into the United States. In September, the former police chief in Mexicali, just east of Tecate, was jailed for allegedly warning the Arellano Felix gang of police operations. Last week outside Tecate, Mexican authorities dismantled a secret, 1,000-foot tunnel under the U.S.-Mexico border that was believed to have been used by the gang to ship tons of cocaine and marijuana into California for more than a decade. The tunnel ran from a private home near Tecate to a home in the mountains east of San Diego. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager