TIJUANA
At least one municipal police officer was among dozens of people arrested Saturday night in an organized crime sweep in this Mexican border town, Baja California police officials said Sunday.
Police prevention officers for the Mexican state of Baja California raided a baptism intending to arrest people connected to the Arrellano Felix drug cartel. Sixty-two people, including 10 who have ties to the cartel, were arrested, said Agustin Perez, a spokesman for the state prevention police.
Also confiscated were firearms, police radios and 460 grams of methamphetamine.
Police said they were tipped off that members of organized crime would be at the baptism at the banquet hall, El Pequeño Travieso in the colonia Herrera about 9 p.m. They stormed the celebration and found about 90 people at the hall. Some were armed, officials said.
State officers entered the hall with support from federal police who secured the building while the arrests were made. Federal police officers were there to ensure that no groups connected to organized crime attempted to free the people arrested, officials said.
Those taken into custody are natives of Sinaloa, Tijuana and Jalisco. One man is a municipal police officer in Tijuana, state police officers said. Four or five other men told state officers they also were on the force. But, state police officials said the men were no longer with the department because they had previously been suspended or fired.
Among the items seized were two black sports-utility vehicles, handguns, and Tijuana Municipal Police uniform patches.
No shots were fired and no injuries were reported, Perez said.
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