18 Mexican Police Officers Held Over Suspected Drug Cartel Links

10/5/2011 2:26 AM ET

(RTTNews) - Security forces in Mexico have arrested 18 police officers suspected of working as agents for the notorious Zetas drugs cartel, the country's Navy Secretariat said late on Tuesday.

It said the police officers were arrested during the last five days in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz along with five suspected members of the Zetas cartel and nine cartel members who escaped from the La Toma prison in the state last month.

The policemen were arrested in operations carried out in the five Mexican cities of Acultzingo, Huiloapan, Rio Blanco, Ciudad Mendoza and Rafael Delgado. They were accused of receiving between 2,000 and 10,000 pesos on a monthly basis from the Zetas.

The Navy Secretariat said the nine escaped prisoners were also detained along with five Zeta cartel members in a raid carried out by the marines on a house in the town of Rancho Viejo, following a tip off from the public. It said the prisoners were helped to jump jail with the intention of "having them joined" the Zetas cartel.

The dreaded Zetas drug cartel was formed by former Mexican special forces soldiers. The Zetas initially served as hit-men and armed enforcers for the powerful Gulf cartel. But they later split from their employers and extended their activities to include drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.

The Zetas are now considered to be one of the most ruthless drug gangs in Mexico. They are currently engaged in a violent turf war with the Gulf cartel for wresting control of the lucrative drug-trafficking routes to the United States. The gang's strongholds include eastern Mexico and the northern border states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.

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