November 11, 2005

MEXICO CHARGES SEVEN COPS WITH KIDNAPPING

Nov 11, 5:05 AM (ET)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican prosecutors announced Thursday they have filed kidnapping and organize crime charges against seven police officers accused of protecting hit men working for the feared Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel.

The men served in the police department in Ensenada, a tourist town 75 kilometers (45 miles) south of the California border, and they allegedly kidnapped people involved in the drug trade and held them for ransom, the Attorney General's Office said in a press statement.

They also protected members of the "Black Commando," a group of hit men working for the Arellano Felix cartel, authorities said.

They are being held at a prison in Mexico City pending trial.

Authorities arrested the group in Ensenada in August on suspicion they were operating a kidnap ring and prosecutors say they were involved in at least three recent kidnappings, one of which ended with the slaying of a captive.

The group includes the former deputy director for operations of the Ensenada police, Francisco Javier Barriga, the department's Tactical Group chief, Jorge Alberto Cisneros, and five other police officers.

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