Saturday, November 23

Operation Swarm: Mexican authorities arrest 7 officials linked to drug trafficking

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By The Opinion

Nov 23, 2024, 10:58 AM EST

Elements of the Armed Forces, in coordination with federal authorities and the State of Mexico, carried out a mega operation to detect and arrest officials of that entity linked to various drug cartels.

As part of the intelligence operations, it was achieved the capture of 7 officials, including a mayor and several police chiefsas reported by the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection in a statement.

Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Security, detailed on social networks that the operation, named “Operation Swarm”was carried out in a coordinated and simultaneous manner, through the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and 1,500 elements deployed from the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), Secretariat of the Navy (Semar), Attorney General’s Office of the Republic (FGR) , and other dependencies.

“So far, 7 public security officials have been arrested, of the 14 arrest warrants issued against officials who facilitated the activities of various criminal groups operating in the State of Mexico; The operation continues. Information will continue.”, reported García Harfuch.

According to media such as the newspaper Reforma, the detainees would be linked to criminal groups such as The Michoacan Family, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, United Warriors and Union Tepitoand would be accused of crimes such as extortion, express kidnapping and homicide.

Among those detained is María Elena Martínez Roblesmayor of Amanalco, as well as its Security Director, Manuel Alejandro Rangel Salgado.

According to Radio Formula, in 2022 María Elena was beaten to prevent her from taking office at the Amanalco Municipal Palace. The attack would have been so serious that she had to be taken to the hospital and the first reports indicated that she was delicate.

Immediately after he regained consciousness, he filed a complaint against the municipal trustee, Miguel Ángel Lara de la Cruz, whom he identified as his alleged main aggressor.

Months later, in January 2023, Lara de la Cruz was murdered after being reported missing. His body was found two days later in a ravine.

As part of “Operation Swarm” they were also captured Rodolfo Chavez Torres and Roberto Malpica Santoswho served as director and regional chief of the Ixtapaluca Police, respectively. Chávez Torres is the brother-in-law of Mayor Felipe Arvizu.

The same way Eraclio CampuzanoSecurity Director of Tejupilco, and Omar Leyva Montalvodeputy director of Citizen Security of Naucalpan, are among those detained.

On the other hand, it emerged that, at the time of carrying out the arrest of the director of Public Security of Texcaltitlán, Isidro Cortesdecided to take his life in front of the officers who were reading him his rights.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Mexico, the objective of “Operation Swarm” is to arrest members of local governments of municipalities who maintain alleged links with organized crime.

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