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Mexican police arrest 4 gunmen working for drug traffickers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-07 10:22

MEXICO CITY: Federal agents have arrested four gunmen allegedly working for a drug trafficking gang in west Mexico, the Public Security Ministry said on Sunday.

The arrest was made in Morelia of the Michoacan state after a gun fight between the gunmen and federal police.

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Police had to return fire after they were attacked by the gunmen who were traveling in a truck with a Mexico City plate.

Police later found in the truck two AR-15 and one AK-47 assault rifles and four pistols all of a 9-millimeter caliber. Police also seized 372 rounds of live ammunition and four bullet-proof jackets from the truck.

The gunmen have already been handed over to the special organized crime department under the federal prosecutor's office in Mexico City.

Drug-related violence including attacks at law enforcement personnel is frequent in Mexico, where gunmen on Tuesday last week shot dead the No. 2 security official and three others in the home state of Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

More than 10,000 people have died of drug-related violence in Mexico since December 2006, about one-tenth of them police officers.