Seven Mexican Law Enforcement Agents Charged in Half-Ton Cocaine Theft

INTERNATIONAL July 1997

Seven of Mexico's law enforcement and military personnel, including one agent from a new anti-drug agency, have been charged with assisting in the theft of a half-ton of cocaine from an office of the Attorney General (Molly Moore, "Mexico Accuses Agents in Theft Of Seized Drug," Washington Post, June 6, 1997, p. A29).

The attorney general's office in San Luis Rio Colorado was holding $10 million worth of cocaine seized from an airplane. According to federal authorities, "The men willfully created the conditions for the drugs to be taken out of the local offices." An additional twenty officials are being held in connection with the robbery, but have not been charged.