TIJUANA DRUG STING TAINTS COPS -- AND FOX

TIJUANA, Mexico -- The police chief of this notorious border town, Carlos
Otal Namur, swears that he is just a simple street cop, and an honest one
at that.

The work of his 1,300 officers is keeping order outside the strip joints
along Avenida Revolucion, making sure drunken American tourists don't get
into fights, solving car thefts, responding to the occasional gunfight.
Sometimes they bust drug dealers on the street, he said, but they never
investigate or have dealings with the major drug cartels.

"I am a person well-known in this city. It's easy to investigate and find
out who I am," said Otal, who took over as chief last December. "I don't
have any links with the narco-traffickers, none."

Back on the job only 10 days, Otal finds it necessary to profess his
innocence because of the cloud of suspicion hanging over him since he and
40 other officers were arrested in a dramatic army operation against
allegedly corrupt cops tied to the local Arellano Felix drug gang.

A cloud of suspicion

While the sting was hailed as an important breakthrough in Mexico's drug
war, the subsequent release of all but 10 of the officers has had the
opposite effect. It has cast doubts on the competence of prosecutors and
the seriousness of President Vicente Fox's government.

The released officers, including Otal, claimed that their interrogations
made it clear there had been little investigation before the arrests. After
being flown all the way to Mexico City, the officers were freed and forced
to find their own way home.

Tijuana residents at first welcomed the arrests as evidence that Fox
intended to clean up what was considered a deeply corrupt police force. Now
they are left wondering whether some deal was cut to allow the officers
back on their jobs.

"It looked in the beginning like it was going to be something very
important, but a week later it looked like a joke," said Victor Alfaro
Clark, director of the Binational Human Rights Commission in Tijuana. "This
hurts the credibility of the fight against criminal organizations, and the
one who lost is the whole society."

Fox and other officials defend the operation, saying that all of the
officers, including Otal, are still under investigation and may be charged.
The 10 cops still in detention, including a state police commander, were
charged with "permanent and repeated" support of drug traffickers and are
being held at a federal prison in Mexico City.

"We are living in new times and we all have to understand this: The
corruption and impunity are being uprooted because now no one is protected
and no one can act above the law," Fox said in a visit to Tijuana soon
after the arrests.

Fox, who has made the war against the drug cartels a cornerstone of his
administration, called the bust a "destructive blow" against the drug
cartel. He said the federal operation would not stop until Tijuana was
"totally clean."

Mexican drug agents have scored several victories against the Arellanos in
recent months. They arrested the cartel's chief, Benjamin Arellano Felix,
on March 9, and its top smuggler a few days later. In February, Arellano's
brother Ramon, the cartel's feared enforcer, was shot by police working for
a rival drug lord.

Over the last year, the Fox government has sent scores of federal agents
into Baja California to gather intelligence and, ostensibly, to help local
police combat the traffickers.

On April 10, about 200 local police officers were lured to a state police
academy in nearby Tecate expecting to pick up the results of a civil
service exam. Once there, they were asked to place their pistols on a table
for a routine handgun check.

At that point, dozens of armed and masked soldiers swarmed in and arrested
41 of them. They were ordered to lie face down on the ground, videotaped
and photographed, and told to surrender everything down to their shoelaces.

`Just like in the movies'

Afterward, some of the officers said they thought it was a drill or a
mistake. Others said it was "just like in the movies."

Those taken into custody said after a long flight in a dark military plane,
they only learned about being transported to Mexico City when they saw
streets through the bus windows.

Once at a police post in the capital, they were examined by a doctor-- a
common practice by police to prove that a detainee has not been tortured.
Some recalled breaking down in tears.

"It was an enormous nightmare," said Otal, a man with huge bull-like
shoulders who underwent heart surgery last year.

Upon their return, Baja California state officials said the suspect
officers could not reassume their jobs. But state prosecutors and the
Tijuana mayor insisted on getting them back to work.

Despite Otal's denials, there are several reasons why a drug cartel would
want to pay for his services. One is to provide information. Another is to
provide protection. It has not been uncommon for Tijuana cops to hire
themselves out as bodyguards for the traffickers.

An acknowledgement of the local police's importance is proven by the fact
that two of Otal's predecessors have been gunned down by suspected
traffickers over the last decade. Otal has a photo of himself in his office
with the last one, who died two years ago.

Despite Fox's statement that charges may be pending, Otal alleged that his
release proved that he was innocent.

"If this was the price I had to pay to end the whispers and rumors about
bad conduct on my part, then it's welcome," he said at a press conference
the day after his return.

In his office, Otal said he has been a policeman for 23 years. But he
declined to discuss the rest of his career, saying it was all "history."

"I wouldn't doubt that a police officer could get himself involved [with
corruption], but it would be outside his police work," Otal said, conceding
that "the whole world" will be watching him closely now.

"The tourists that visit my city can feel safe knowing that the person in
charge will care for them. If [prosecutors] have something on me, they will
have to prove it."