Anonymous - 9-11-2004 at 06:41 AM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20040901-0...
ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 1, 2004
TIJUANA, Mexico ? Federal authorities are seeking the arrests of at least 28 state investigators and police officers in Tijuana and nearby Mexicali,
cities on the Mexico-California border, on charges they took bribes to protect drug smugglers.
The announcement Tuesday night came after narcotic-related violence killed two police officers and two other people in the span of just a few hours in
this violent border city, which neighbors San Diego.
Around 11 p.m. on Monday, Tijuana homicide investigator Jose Rosario Cevallos was driving home when an unknown number of suspects in two vehicles
forced him off the road and opened fire with machine guns. He died after being shot more than 80 times, said Francisco Castro, a homicide prosecutor
with the federal attorney general's office.
A few hours later, the body of another Tijuana police officer, Fausto Daniel Escamilla, was discovered along with the remains of two men whose
identities were not released in the 20 de Noviembre neighborhood, Castro said. All three victims were found with their hands bound at the wrists and
their corpses showed signs of torture, telltale indications that the slayings were the work of professionals with links to drug-smugglers, Castro
said.
Castro said at an evening news conference Tuesday that federal authorities believe both men were killed because of a federal investigation into links
between state and local authorities and Gilberto Higuera, who investigators believe was a top drug-running lieutenant for the Tijuana-based Arellano
Felix gang before defecting to another smuggling syndicate controlled by Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.
Higuera was arrested in Mexicali, Baja California's state capital, on Aug. 22. He has been working with federal investigators who have asked a judge
in Mexico state, which borders Mexico City, to issue at least 28 arrest warrants in the case, Castro said.
Castro said federal authorities planned to ask for the arrest of police officers in Tijuana and Mexicali, which borders the California city of
Calexico, as well as state investigators. Most will face charges of protecting key members of the Arellano Felix gang and Zambada's smuggling group,
he said.