http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impr ... abla=miami

Feds say local cops helped kidnappers

BY SILVIA OTERO/EL UNIVERSAL
June 30, 2005

An investigation into the mass kidnapping of 44 people last weekend in the violenceplagued border town of Nuevo Laredo is pointing towards police collusion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

According to officials from the federal Attorney General's Office (PGR), local officers working with the Gulf Cartel were involved in the kidnappings of alleged members of the rival Sinaloa Cartel.

The drug smuggling rings have been waging a bloody battle over control of Nuevo Laredo's lucrative shipping routes for several years, but the violence has exploded recently, with over 70 drug-related deaths in the city this year alone.

The kidnappings appear to have been an attempt by the Gulf Cartel to deal a blow to the Sinaloa Cartel, controlled by JoaquÃÂ*n 'El Chapo' Guzmán.

Federal agents rescued the 44 kidnapping victims from safe houses where they were being held late Sunday night. All but one of them was then transported to the capital for further questioning.

According to the testimony of the three individuals who allegedly organized the kidnappings, participants including local police officers were paid US300 or more for monitoring and picking up the targets.

Local officers then detained the individuals and brought them in their police cars to be turned over to the Gulf Cartel. The targets had allegedly been previously identified as Sinaloa Cartel collaborators. Other victims were small-time drug dealers accused of running up debts with the cartel.

Dozens of Nuevo Laredo police officers were arrested earlier this month after a group opened fire on federal agents who were deployed to combat the rising tide of drug-related violence.