JURIST - Paper Chase: Mexico federal police chief resigns over drug cartel investigation

[JURIST] Mexico's federal police commissioner Gerardo Garay has resigned in the face of recent allegations that Mexican law enforcement offices have been infiltrated by drug cartels. Garay said in a statement Saturday that he was resigning in cooperation with authorities so that he could resolve the allegations against him. Garay took control of the Federal Preventative Police (PFP) [official website, in Spanish], the uniformed branch of the federal police force, when the previous commissioner, Edgar Millan Gomez, was killed in May. Garay's resignation comes as one of his lieutenants and five military members face charges [AP report] for their connections with the Sinaloa drug cartel. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

Last week, Mexican Assistant Attorney General Marisela Morales Ibanez, head of Mexico's Assistant Prosecutors Office Specializing in Organized Crime (SIEDO) [official website, in Spanish], reported that a branch of a Mexican drug cartel had infiltrated her office [JURIST report]. Following SIEDO's 'Operation Cleaning,' Miguel Colorado Gonzales, Fernado Rivera Hernadez, Jorge Alberto Zavala, Antonio Mejia Robles, and at least one other SIEDO investigator were accused of receiving between $150,000 and $450,000 (USD) a month from the Sinaloa syndicate in exchange for confidential information. The investigation also revealed that the cartel had at least one insider at the US Embassy in Mexico.

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...