Mexico: Sinaloa Cartel spies infiltrated Prosecutor General, US Embassy

Mexican prosecutors say employees of the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR) were secretly working for the Sinaloa Cartel, and even managed to work inside the US embassy with DEA personnel. Two worked with investigators in requesting searches and raids. Officials call it the worst known case of drug informants infiltrating law enforcement in a decade. In all, five people were arrested.

The five officials of the PGR's organized crime unit are accused of serving as informants for the Beltran Leyva crime family, Prosecutor General Eduardo Medina Mora said. He added that there are indications other spies still work within his office.

One US embassy employee, who also worked for Interpol at the Mexico City airport, is a protected witness after telling Mexican officials in Washington that he reported details of DEA operations to the Beltran Leyva machine, a PGR official said on condition of anonymity. Embassy officials had no immediate comment.

Immigration official busted in marijuana haul
Meanwhile, a Francisco Celaya Carrillo, an official of Mexico's National Immigration Institute, was arrested at the Lukeville port of entry on the Arizona border with 170 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle Oct. 28. Celaya Carrillo was in uniform when he was arrested by US border agents. Mexican officials identified him as an immigration officer assigned to a border bridge at Sonoyta, across the border from Lukeville. He was apparently on his day off from the job and was driving a private vehicle when detained. (Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, KRGV, Brownsville, AP, Oct. 28)

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