Official: Mexican cartels hiring common criminals

Associated Press
Posted: 04/06/2011 12:48:09 PM MDT

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) - The head of Mexico's federal police says drug traffickers are increasingly recruiting common criminals and converting them into killers.

Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna says that these days, new drug cartel recruits can reach the position of hit man in a month, a process that used to take 15 years.

Garcia Luna says that the gangs are recruiting low-level lawbreakers such as street drug dealers and robbers.

He says that for too long the fight against organized crime has been concentrated on the leadership and that now it's important "to fight crime at every stage."

Garcia Luna made his comments Wednesday at the annual International Conference for Drug Control in Cancun.

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