Dozens of police arrested in Baja shakeup

56 state, municipal officers charged with collaborating with organized crime

By Sandra Dibble, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Originally published July 29, 2010 at 3:35 p.m.,
updated July 29, 2010 at 4:07 p.m.

TIJUANA — In one of Baja California’s largest law-enforcement shakeups in recent years, 56 state and municipal police officers were arrested and gathered for a lineup Thursday in Tijuana, charged with collaborating with organized crime.

Baja California’s Attorney General, Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, said the detentions were ordered by a federal judge following investigations that in some instances lasted up to two years. He gave no specifics of the cases and did not name any criminal groups that are known to operate in the region.

Moreno said the arrests had no connection to indictments announced last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office against 43 suspects accused of cooperating with a drug trafficking group headed by Fernando Sanchez Arellano.

The detained officers, in handcuffs and under heavy military guard, stood at the military airport in Tijuana as authorities announced their detentions. Several shouted that they were innocent.

The group included 40 municipal police officers, but it was unclear whether they all came from Tijuana or included forces from other cities. Also detained were 16 state officers, known as ministeriales, who typically investigate common crimes.

Besides these active-duty officers, six former municipal officers were arrested.

Among the detainees was at least one high-ranking Tijuana police commander, Ernesto Silva Frausto.

In announcing the arrests, the attorney general was accompanied by Daniel de la Rosa, Baja California’s secretary of public safety; Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica, the top military commander in the region; and Javier Cossio, a representative of the federal attorney general’s office in Baja California.

The detainees are expected to be flown to a federal penintentiary in the southern state of Veracruz. It's unclear where they'll be prosecuted.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010 ... a-shakeup/