MEXICO TO INVESTIGATE FEDERAL OFFICERS

Allegations Of Corruption Spur Inquiry

Mexico's Attorney General's Office has opened an investigation into
allegations of corruption within the federal police in Juarez.

The investigation is in response to an uprising by hundreds of federal
police officers on Saturday against some of their commanders, whom
they accused of taking money and having connections to drug
traffickers.

The commanders were taken into custody at gunpoint, handcuffed and
smacked around by their ski-masked subordinates, who claimed
corruption was putting their lives at risk.

The Juarez drug cartel has been targeting federal police and publicly
claiming they work for the rival Sinaloa drug cartel.

Federal police officials said four commanders accused of corruption
were taken to Mexico City in the custody of the Attorney General's
Office, or PGR.

Officials said the federal police Council of Honor and Justice, and
Internal Affairs are also looking into the criminal
allegations.

There is also an investigation of the 248 officers who took part in
Saturday's protest to determine any "irregular conduct" on their part.
Internal Affairs is an autonomous division within the federal police.
The investigation is based out of Mexico City.

There are 4,500 federal police patrolling the streets of Juarez as
part of a federal anti-crime effort that has done little to stem daily
multiple slayings. Federal police took control of the operation from
the Mexican army last spring.

Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said in a statement on Monday that
there are no plans for the army to begin patrolling Juarez again. He
mentioned that Juarez is divided into patrol zones by the federal
police with an independent command structure in each zone.

Despite the presence of thousands of federal police, the violence has
continued in the city since a drug cartel war began in 2008. There
were a dozen homicides Sunday in the Juarez area.