MEXICAN STATE GOVERNOR SUSPENDS 552 DETECTIVES

Then Denies Drug Trafficking Accusation

MEXICO CITY -- The governor of the central state of Morelos ordered
the suspension of all 552 detectives on the state police force Monday,
just days after their chief was arrested on federal drug trafficking
charges.

Hours later, the governor himself was interviewed by federal agents
amid newspaper reports that he was in league with drug gangs.

At a news conference, Gov. Sergio Estrada vehemently denied any
wrongdoing.

"I have a clean conscience," Estrada told reporters. "I deny any link
with drug traffickers."

Estrada said federal agents and military personnel will replace the
suspended detectives, who make up about a quarter of the force, while
they are being investigated by state authorities. Estrada did not
specify when or how many detectives would by cleared to return to duty.

"We have to work to create an authentic investigative police force
that respects the law and human rights," Estrada said.

All officers on the state force will now be subjected to lie-detector,
drug and alcohol tests, he said.

Last week, federal agents arrested Jose Agustin Montiel, the state's
chief of detectives, and took him to the maximum-security Palma prison.

Mexico's anti-drug czar, Jose Vasconcelos, said Montiel directed a
narcotics-smuggling operation in which cocaine shipments were flown
from Colombia to Morelos' Cuernavaca airport and taken in police cars
to neighboring Mexico state.

Montiel, Vasconcelos said, was also protecting mobsters in the
notorious Juarez cartel, which smuggles tons of cocaine,
methamphetamines and marijuana into the United States.

Federal agents are planning more arrests in the case, Vasconcelos
said.

On Monday, Mexico City's El Universal newspaper printed statements it
said were made by two witnesses in the Montiel case that implicate
Morelos' governor.

The paper quoted arrested drug smuggler Marco Yepez as saying Estrada
was taking payoffs from a high-ranking member of the Juarez cartel.
Former police detective Idelfonso Ortiz reportedly said the governor
was romantically involved with the mobster's daughter.

Morelos state has long been used as a route for cocaine heading toward
the United States, according to federal agents.

In 1998, the state's police chief resigned amid charges that he was
working with drug and kidnap gangs, causing a crisis for then Gov.
Jorge Carrillo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

Gov. Estrada, from the National Action Party of President Vicente Fox,
came to power in 2000 after campaigning to end police corruption in
the state.

If a National Action governor is found to be linked to drug cartels,
it would be an embarrassment for the Fox administration, which has
been praised by U.S. officials for its campaign against narcotic
trafficking.

Late Monday, Estrada met with federal Interior Minister Santiago
Creel. "I did not ask (Creel) for any favors," Estrada told reporters
after the meeting. "I am absolutely sure of what I'm doing."

Analysts estimate that Mexican drug gangs make $3 billion to $30
billion annually by smuggling cocaine over the U.S. border and say
they have police, politicians and judges on their payrolls.