Reuters AlertNet Lite - Mexico extends anti-drug fight to border states

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Mexico extends anti-drug fight to border states

18 Feb 2007 20:03:03 GMT
Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Mexico is sending thousands of police and military personnel to two states bordering Texas in its fight against drug gangs, Interior Minister Francisco Ramirez Acuna said on Sunday.

Security forces will step up operations in the northeastern states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, and Navy vessels will patrol the Gulf coast for drug shipments.

Tamaulipas is home to the infamous Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's two main drug smuggling gangs. Nuevo Leon's normally placid capital Monterrey has been rocked by the drug-related murders of at least 14 active or former police officers this year.

President Felipe Calderon has sent troops to combat drug cartels in several states since taking office last December.

"More than 2,600 elements from the defense ministry, the Navy, the security ministry and the attorney-general's office will take part in this new effort against organized crime in these two states," Ramirez Acuna told reporters.

More than 2,000 people were killed last year in a feud between the Gulf Cartel and an alliance of drug traffickers from the western state of Sinaloa. Many of the victims were tortured and beheadings are common.

Mexico extradited jailed Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas to Texas last month to face charges of drug trafficking and assaulting and threatening U.S. guards.

A senior U.S. anti-drug official told Reuters last week that while Calderon has made a strong start in the fight against drugs, he needs to do more to combat the Sinaloa alliance, headed by Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

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Last updated:Sun Feb 18 20:03:17 2007