ORGANIZED CRIME PROBED IN MEXICO

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Justice officials have opened a sweeping investigation
into alleged links between police and organized crime in Sinaloa, a
northwestern state rife with drug trafficking, Mexican media reported Sunday.

Four State Judicial Police officers have been indicted and 40 others are
under investigation for suspected corruption, state Attorney General
Gilberto Higuera Bernal said, according to the daily La Jornada.

The state justice department will investigate the alleged complicity and
implement staff changes, even in top offices, to stop "the association
between criminals and police forces," Higuera told the government news
agency Notimex.

Details of the allegations were not presented.

Sinaloa state, site of the popular tourist resort of Mazatlan, is a center
for marijuana and opium growing and home to several of Mexico's most
powerful drug traffickers.