MEXICO: Policewoman arrested by troops as she is caught travelling with alleged drug traffickers

Record ID: 303475

  • Title: MEXICO: Policewoman arrested by troops as she is caught travelling with alleged drug traffickers
  • Date: 1st March 2011
  • Summary: URUAPAN, MICHOACAN, MEXICO (FEBRUARY 28, 2011) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) ARRESTED POLICEWOMAN BEING PRESENTED BY TROOPS / SEIZED WEAPONS FACE OF ARRESTED POLICEWOMAN MORE OF SEIZED WEAPONS MORE OF ARRESTED WOMAN / SEIZED WEAPONS ARRESTED WOMAN AND ROCKET LAUNCHER MORE OF ARRESTED WOMAN WITH POLICE LOGO MORE OF SEIZED WEAPONS / ARMY CLOTHING / CASH / COCAINE MORE OF ARRESTED WOMAN / WEAPONS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARRESTED POLICEWOMAN, ERIKA GARCIA, SAYING: "I was based in Zituacuaro. Municipal policewoman." SEIZED ARMY CLOTHING ROCKET LAUNCHER MORE OF SEIZED WEAPONS
  • Embargoed: 16th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Reuters ID: LVA1O5DHT2GVGL7MRTBZDETGHOZP
  • Story Text: A policewoman was arrested by troops at dawn on Monday (February 28) in possession of a weapons arsenal in the city of Uruapan in the state of Michoacan.
    Twenty-three-year-old Erika Garcia, who was hired by the police department in the city of Zitacuaro, was arrested after the convoy of three luxury vehicles carrying suspected drug traffickers she was travelling with, were stopped at a military checkpoint.
    Other vehicle passengers managed to escape by foot into nearby mountains but Garcia failed to get away, according to local media.
    Dozens of weapons, a rocket launcher, mobile phones, drugs, army clothing and three luxury vehicles were seized by policemen.
    Garcia was on medical leave from the police at the time of her arrest, according to local media.
    A four-year army crackdown in Mexico's methamphetamine-producing heartland has provoked a dizzying increase in violence, fueling fears that the country is losing its battle against organized crime.
    Grisly assassinations and gang extortion are terrifying Mexicans in the western state of Michoacan, where President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drug cartels, sending in about 5,000 soldiers in December 2006 following a narrow election victory.
    Despite heavily armed patrols, hundreds of drug lab busts and thousands of arrests, locals say gangs in the president's home state wield huge power, ramping up drug output while using terror and bribes to control towns mired in poverty.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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