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Ex-Tijuana cop arrested in U.S.

UNION-TRIBUNE
August 4, 2006

TIJUANA – U.S. authorities detained a former Tijuana police officer in Chula Vista this week.

A spokeswoman with the FBI's San Diego office, April Langwell, would only say that Julio César Abasolo, 39, was taken into custody while a multiagency task force was executing search warrants.

U.S. authorities wouldn't say what kind of case the warrants were linked to.

Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the case was part of a binational investigation.

Langwell said Abasolo was in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security.

Abasolo worked off and on for the Tijuana Police Department since 1990 until March of this year, said Luis Javier Algorri Franco, Tijuana's secretariat of public security.

Algorri said Abasolo was asked to leave his post as a district chief because of “suspicions he was involved in improper activities,” but Algorri wasn't sure if Abasolo had quit or taken a leave. – Anna Cearley

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