Post date: Feb 26, 2013 8:7:26 PM
Mexican authorities arrest two suspects in possession of weapons cache in western Mexico.
GUADALAJARA, JALISCO, MEXICO (FEBRUARY 25, 2013) (REUTERS) - Mexican police arrested two men on Monday (February 25) in possession of some 11,000 rounds of ammunition in Guadalajara City in Mexico's western state ofJalisco, which has seen a surge in drug-war violence.
The ammunition was apparently seized when police conducted a routine inspection while on patrol."During a routine inspection, they (policemen) spotted they (suspects) had two rifles, one on the drivers side of the vehicle and another on the passenger side. When they continued to inspect the vehicle, they found 10,880 calibre 7.62 ammunition rounds and 250 calibre .38 special ammunition which is used for guns. The suspects admitted to working with the Jalisco cartel and the Corona cartel to whom they sell weapons and ammunition," said State Police Chief for Jalisco State, Levario Garcia.
Last month police arrested eight men suspected of being involved in the killing of aJalisco police chief shot dead by an armed group and for taking part in recent shootouts.
Mexico's new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, won election pledging to reduce the violence afflicting the country.
Pena Nieto belongs to the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruledMexico for most of the last century until it was voted out of office in 2000.
Critics say the PRI tolerated the presence of drug gangs in Latin America's second biggest economy, making deals with them to keep the peace and allowing corruption to take root.
But the new government have said they are committed to going after the cartels' money and have emphatically rejected the idea that there could be any negotiation with them.