Sayeed Muhammad: In the wake of suspicions of infiltration by criminal groups, the entire municipal police force in the coastal Mexican resort of Acapulco is under investigation.
Marines surrounded the police headquarters and disarmed 700 officers as federal police and the military will now patrol the city instead, reports BBC.
Acapulco became famous as a destination for the rich and famous in the 1950s and 1960s, but has since become a hotspot for drug trafficking and has a high murder rate.
Marines, state and federal police were deployed in a massive operation on Tuesday and they cordoned off Acapulco’s municipal police headquarters and formed a security cordon around the building.
They then entered the headquarters, only to disarm hundreds of officers and seized their ammunition, bulletproof vests and radios.
They also arrested two police commanders on suspicion of murder. The chief of Acapulco’s highway police was also detained after he was found to be carrying unlicensed weapons.
The entire municipal police force and its chief, Max Lorenzo Sedano, are under investigation. All officers will undergo a “confidence test” and will be questioned about possible links to criminal gangs.
Meanwhile, their equipment and weapons will be placed under lock and key and poliicing would be carried out by state police until the investigations are concluded, a Guerrero state official said.
The raid came after state officials noticed an increase in crime in Acapulco and “a lack of action by the police to deal with it”.
Last year, the homicide rate in the city rose to 106 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world. In London between September 2016 and September 2017, the figure is 1.45 murders against 100,000 people.
Locals in Acapulco have complained about the rise in violence, with clowns marching in protest in May saying they were losing business because people were too afraid to throw parties and paramedics warning that they were struggling to deal with the effects of the violence.
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