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Mexico to retrain police in organized crime fight

22 Jan 2007 22:10:07 GMT
Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a plan on Monday to reform the country's notoriously corrupt police, the latest effort to clamp down on mafias and drug cartels that terrorize large parts of the country.

Calderon, who took office on Dec. 1 and quickly deployed troops and police to tackle drug gangs, said federal, state and local police would be be retrained and given access to a new national crime database.

He said the police forces also needed more money and public support to battle the well-organized and wealthy crime groups. Drug gangs killed about 2,000 people in Mexico last year.

"We cannot permit that criminals find shelter in weak institutions or obsolete laws," he told officials from across Mexico at a national security council.

In January, soldiers and federal police sent to violent border city Tijuana seized weapons from the local police force, which has been accused of colluding with the Tijuana drug cartel.

Mexican police, who have a long record of corruption, are now sometimes outgunned and outspent by the drug cartels. The cartels are fighting among themselves for control of extremely lucrative cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana smuggling routes.

Calderon's home state of Michoacan, beach resort Acapulco and several border towns have been engulfed by drug gang violence in recent years.

As well as sending thousands of troops to try to retake lawless regions from the drug gangs, the government extradited four top drug kingpins to the United States on Friday, including suspected Gulf cartel boss Osiel Cardenas. Officials say more extraditions will follow.

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Last updated:Mon Jan 22 22:11:41 2007