Associated Press
PHOEXNIX, Arizona -- Three high-ranking Mexican police officers were arrested over the weekend after for after they reportedly bought weapons at a gun show in Phoenix in violation of a law barring non-citizens from purchasing firearms, a federal official said Wednesday.
The three include the director of the Baja California state police and a commander of the federal police in Baja California, said Tom Mangan, a spokesman with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix.
The three had crossed the border at Calexico, Calif., in an official police vehicle and driven to Phoenix. They were arrested by Phoenix police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after buying three handguns and about 450 rounds of ammunition Saturday at the gun show, Mangan said.
He said it appeared the officers were buying the handguns for their personal use.
Phoenix police booked Carlos Alberto Flores, 36, the Baja California state police director, on state weapons misconduct and conspiracy charges, according to a Phoenix police report. State police Commander Guillermo Valle Medina, 33, was booked on the same felony charges, as was Jose Santos Cortes Gonzalez, 41, a commander in the federal police, the Mexican equivalent of the FBI.
Flores and Cortes posted $2,000 bond each and were released from jail, and Valle was released on his own recognizance, Mangan said.
Posted by tyne at September 13, 2007