Mexico drug gang kills 12 police officers

September 25th, 2009 Mexico Police arrest 5 in drug rehab executionsCIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Police have arrested five men accused of dozens of murders, including two mass killings at drug treatment centers in this northern Mexico border city. Police say the men were members of the Sinaloa cartel, a violent gang entrenched in a brutal turf war for control of drug routes to the United States.

September 22nd, 2009 LA-area street gang targeted by massive raidsLOS ANGELES — More than 1,000 federal and local law enforcement officials are carrying out raids around the Los Angeles area Tuesday, targeting a street gang accused of everything from drug dealing to murder. About 1,300 officers and agents began going door to door before dawn.

September 14th, 2009 31 Mexican police arrested for alleged drug tiesMEXICO CITY — Thirty-one police officers have been arrested in a central Mexican state on suspicion of collaborating with a gang of drug cartel hit men. The Public Safety Department says the officers were arrested as part of a months-long investigation into alleged ties between police and the Zetas in Hidalgo, a state north of Mexico City.

September 9th, 2009 Journalists arrested for alleged drug gang payoffsVILLAHERMOSA, Mexico — Two rural journalists have been arrested for allegedly working as informants for a violent drug trafficking cartel, according to courts in the southern Mexico state of Tabasco. Newspaper correspondents Roberto Juarez and Lazaro Abreu Tejero Sanchez are being held on charges that they accepted thousands of dollars from the Zetas, a fierce drug gang aligned with the Gulf cartel, the state court system said in a news release.

August 29th, 2009 Gunmen kill 5 police in shootout in western MexicoMEXICO CITY — A convoy of gunmen engaged state police in a running shootout Friday that killed five officers and possibly one of the attackers in the western Mexico state of Jalisco, authorities said. The state attorney general's office said the gunbattle began when a convoy of seven vehicles carrying at least 30 gunmen approached state policemen on a local highway.

August 12th, 2009 No loitering rule applies to police in MexicoMONTERREY, Mexico — Police in the northern Mexico city of Monterrey have been told not to sit in parked patrol cars observing traffic, because officials suspect they could be spying for criminal gangs or drug cartels. The measure marks a new low for Monterrey's municipal police.

July 23rd, 2009 Brazil: Rio police find drug gang 'clinics'RIO DE JANEIRO — Rio drug traffickers are operating makeshift medical clinics in the slums they control so wounded gang members don't have to risk arrest by seeking treatment at hospitals, police said Thursday. "It's the first time we've found clinics like this," a civil police spokesman said Thursday.

June 29th, 2009 Mexico detains 93 police in corruption probeMEXICO CITY — Mexican prosecutors announced Sunday they have put 93 police officers and investigators under house arrest on suspicion of aiding the Zetas, a feared gang of hit men tied to the Gulf drug cartel. Corruption scandals have long plagued Mexican law enforcement, but the detentions represented one of the biggest single roundups of suspected officers in recent years.

June 4th, 2009 Mexico captures 2 of 53 escaped inmatesMEXICO CITY — Federal agents have captured two of 53 inmates who escaped from a prison in northern Mexico last month as its guards apparently stood by, federal police said Thursday. Marcos Espinoza and Osvaldo Garcia were detained Wednesday in Mexico's central state of Hidalgo along with six alleged members of the Zetas, a gang of hit men tied to the Gulf cartel, federal police intelligence coordinator Luis Cardenas told reporters.

May 24th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - A senior leader of a dreaded drug cartel of Mexico has been arrested in the northeastern city of Ciudad Victoria, authorities have said. Nelson Garcia Lozano, the Gulf drug gang's head of operations in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas province, was held following a gun exchange between his men and troops Saturday, the national defence secretariat said.

May 9th, 2009 Mexico arrests 25 Tijuana officers in cartel bustTIJUANA, Mexico — Mexico arrested 25 Tijuana police officers and two civilians on organized crime charges for alleged drug gang ties, the federal attorney general's office said Friday. The suspects are accused of helping alleged Arellano Felix cartel leader Teodoro Garcia, one of Mexico's 24 most wanted drug suspects, the office said in a statement.

April 30th, 2009 Mexico nabs drug gang leader on most-wanted listMEXICO CITY — Mexican police have arrested suspected Zeta gang leader Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa, one of Mexico's 24 most-wanted drug traffickers. Federal police say Sauceda Gamboa was detained in the border city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas.

April 30th, 2009 Mexico nabs Zeta gang leader on most-wanted listMEXICO CITY — Mexican police on Wednesday arrested suspected Zeta gang leader Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa, one of Mexico's 24 most-wanted drug traffickers. Sauceda Gamboa appears on a list of 24 alleged drug traffickers published by prosecutors in March.

February 15th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - A criminal gang killed 12 people in the southwest Mexican Tabasco province in an act of revenge against a police officer and his family for arresting a gang of murder suspects, officials confirmed Sunday. The extraordinary gruesome attack Saturday evening took the lives of six children in Monte Largo, 50 km south of the Tabasco capital Villahermosa.

December 30th, 2008 MEXICO CITY - Mexico will introduce harsher punishments to take on the country's organised drug cartels as well as government officials having links with the underworld, officials said. The Secretariat of National Defence (SEDENA), responsible for the country's security, has proposed to increase prison term up to 60 years, for former or serving officers in the army and the police accused of links with the underworld.