Puerto Rico seeks to arrest police over gang probe
05 Sep 2007 18:10:46 GMT Source: Reuters
(Corrects names of justice secretary in paragraph three and adds full name of police superintendent in paragraph 10) SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Puerto Rican authorities issued arrest warrants on Tuesday for five police agents accused of protecting a drug and gun smuggling gang. The warrants by Puerto Rican Justice Department's Special Investigations Bureau (SIB) are part of an attempt to crack down on police corruption and brutality. "The arrests are the result of a complex investigation by undercover agents of the SIB that lasted four months," Roberto Sanchez Ramos, justice secretary in the U.S. territory said. The five officers, all members of the San Juan riot squad, are accused of helping a gang based in the northern coastal towns of Vega Baja and Manat. Police also issued warrants for 12 civilians accused of belonging to the gang. One officer is also accused of arranging an attempted murder for the gang. SIB agents took the murder target into protective custody before the killing took place, the Justice Secretary said. A series of scandals has sparked an outcry against the Puerto Rican Police Department. Last month authorities arrested 10 vice squad agents based in the western city of Mayaguez and accused them of conducting illegal drug raids, keeping confiscated drugs and cash and planting drugs on residents as part of an extortion racket. In a separate incident last month, an officer has been charged with murder in the death of a resident of Humacao, who was apparently shot in the head by an officer. Public distrust of the police is affecting morale in the 18,500-member force, said Police Superintendent Pedro Toledo who defended the clean-up campaign.
