MEXICAN AGENTS INVESTIGATING DRUG CARTEL ARE FOUND DEAD

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities on Wednesday found the battered
bodies of three federal agents who were working with U.S. law
enforcement agencies to investigate a powerful drug cartel along the
U.S.-Mexico border.

The agents were found dead in their van off a steep cliff along a
remote highway between the Baja California cities of Tijuana and Mexicali.

The deaths could be the latest in a long string of drug-related
killings of police and others investigating drug smuggling along the
border, particularly in Tijuana, which is near San Diego, Calif., and
in Matamoros, near Brownsville.

The agents' bodies showed no signs of gunshots, and the cause of death
was unknown pending an autopsy, said a visibly upset Mariano Herran
Salvatti, Mexico's chief of federal anti-drug operations.

At a news conference in Mexico City on Wednesday, Herran said he
couldn't be sure yet whether the agents' deaths were a message of
intimidation. But showing photos of bodies with massive head injuries,
he praised the agents' "sacrifice."

"We will not be stopped because of events like this," he said. "We are
going to redouble our efforts against drug traffickers."

The agents were investigating the powerful Arellano Felix cartel, an
organized crime group that smuggles cocaine and other drugs into the
United States through the Tijuana area.

The agents had been missing since Monday.

One of the agents, Jose Patino Moreno, had requested more than 60
search warrants in the Tijuana area and other parts of northern Mexico
before he died, Herran said.

The most recent lines of investigation stemmed from the March 11
arrest of Jesus Labra Aviles, the alleged accountant for the Arellano
Felix cartel, and the subsequent gangland-style killing of Labra's
lawyer, Gustavo Galvez Reyes, in Mexico City on March 15.

At least one of the agents, Patino Moreno, was living in San Diego for
his safety while he worked on his investigation. He was also working
closely with agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and
the FBI, who are also investigating the Arellano Felix group, Herran
said.

"From the start of our investigation and search for our comrades, we
had the collaboration and support of the DEA and the FBI," Herran added.

The Tijuana area is notorious for scores of killings of federal, state
and local police, who were targeted either because they were honest
and were investigating smugglers or because they were corrupt and had
crossed traffickers.

Since January, Tijuana has been plagued by almost daily violent
killings.

On Feb. 27, Tijuana police Chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez was
machine-gunned to death while driving on a Tijuana avenue in broad
daylight.

The killing occurred just days after President Ernesto Zedillo visited
the neighboring city of Mexicali and pledged to crack down on
organized crime.