Mexico Under Siege

47 POLICE OFFICERS QUESTIONED IN DISAPPEARANCE OF MEXICAN CUSTOMS OFFICIAL

The Customs Administrator in Veracruz Has Not Been Seen Since an
Apparent Traffic Collision Monday Night. on a Security Video, Several
Police Cars Are Seen Arriving at the Scene of the Crash.

Nearly 50 police officers were questioned in the disappearance of a
top Mexican customs official in the port city of Veracruz, authorities
said Wednesday.

The investigation targeted traffic police in Veracruz, where customs
administrator Francisco Serrano disappeared Monday night from the
scene of an apparent traffic collision. Forty-seven police officers
were held for questioning by federal authorities.

Salvador Mikel Rivera, attorney general for the state of Veracruz,
said authorities decided to question all officers on duty that night
after viewing security camera video of a crash involving Serrano's
vehicle. The video showed several police cars arriving. Serrano has
not been seen since.

Veracruz is the nation's main cargo port on the Gulf of Mexico and is
watched by customs officials for smuggling of illegal drugs and other
contraband.

The action came as federal authorities this week detained 58 police
officers in the northern state of Nuevo Leon for suspected ties to
drug traffickers. Among those taken into custody were the public
safety chiefs in two towns.

Police corruption remains a major obstacle for Mexican President
Felipe Calderon's 30-month-old crackdown on drug cartels and other
organized-crime groups.

Though the administration has sought to clean up and reorganize the
roughly 25,000-strong federal police force, graft is entrenched in
cities and towns, where officers sometimes moonlight as gunmen for
drug-smuggling groups.

Calderon has responded by sending the Mexican military to patrol
drug-trafficking hot spots. In a growing number of places, retired
Mexican army generals and colonels have been put in charge of police.

More than 10,000 people have died in drug-related violence since
Calderon launched the nationwide anti-crime offensive in December
2006. Traffickers have fought government forces and feuded with one
another over prized smuggling routes.