Mexico City - Mexico's ongoing drug war reached new heights Saturday with the arrest of 10 police officers in connection with the execution of 12 drug investigators, according to reports Sunday. The investigators' bodies were found last Tuesday along a remote highway in the western state of Michoacan. They had reportedly died of gunshots to the head.
Michoachan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon, is controlled by the "La Familia" drug cartel. Eighteen 18 federal agents and two soldiers have been killed in drug-related violence since July 11, when alleged leading "La Familia" member Arnoldo Rueda Medina was arrested.
Around 5,000 soldiers have now been deployed in a bid to curb the violence, according to a report by the BBC.
The 10 police officers being would have to be charged within 40 days or released, under Mexican law.
The federal government suspects that police and other local authorities have long been on the "payroll" of the country's powerful drug cartels.
