SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Fourteen Baja California state police officers have been relieved of their duties and are under investigation for their alleged connection to the theft of 180 kilos of cocaine
Laureano Carrillo Rodríguez, the state’s secretary of public safety, says the officers have officially been suspended for using state vehicles and other resources without authorization, something he called a “serious allegation.”
“We’re talking about organized delinquency, that’s the situation,” Carrillo Rodríguez said. “When something like this happens, there needs to be a suspension, so the investigation is not compromised.”
The investigation was made public after Zeta, a weekly Spanish news publication in Tijuana, detailing specifics of the theft involving 180 kilos of cocaine and the 14 officers’ alleged connection to it.
Zeta reported that surveillance cameras recorded four vehicles, including three pickups, pulling up and taking the cocaine from a street corner in Tijuana’s Colonia Ojo de Agua on Oct. 4.
The article states the vehicles involved are registered to the state’s public safety agency, and that officers turned off tracking devices in the vehicles and used jamming technology to block all cellphone and radio calls in the area.
The officers are also accused of approaching area businesses asking them to erase video surveillance images to delete evidence the agents were in the area at the time the cocaine was stolen.
In a letter written to Zeta, the suspended officers claim there is no evidence they were involved in the theft saying the investigation is based solely on the published article.
But Carrillo Rodríguez disputes the letter saying they have sufficient evidence suggesting the officers were involved in the robbery.
“All that’s been done is the application of the law,” he said. “We’re not going to take a step backwards. This is part of the investigation. We’ll release the evidence when a request is done by the agents using legal means to acquire it.”
Aside from the internal investigation, the federal attorney general in the state is conducting a parallel inquiry into the allegations and the stolen cocaine.
“The complaint has been filed against the responsible parties, the criminal investigation corresponds to the attorney general and charges will be made accordingly,” Carrillo Rodríguez said.
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