Top 3 Guatemalan police officials fired over drugs

The Associated Press
8:56 p.m. August 7, 2009

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala's top three police officials have been fired after hundreds of pounds (more than 100 kilograms) of cocaine allegedly disappeared from a shipment seized by authorities.

Interior Minister Raul Velazquez says police made the 1-ton seizure Thursday. But when federal prosecutors weighed the drugs, 258 pounds (117 kilograms) were missing.

National Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said Friday that Velazquez dismissed the agency's general director Porfirio Perez, assistant director Rolando Mendoza and chief of operations Victor Lopez.

Gonzalez says they are under investigation for possible involvement in the missing drugs.

Guatemala ordered Perez investigated last month after $300,000 dollars in seized cash went missing.

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