‘Honest’ cops arrested in house with drug lords

JUST a few weeks ago, the two officers were lauded as part of a new breed of honest cop, elevated to become key players in a drive to overhaul one of Mexico’s most notorious police forces.

Now Francisco Ortega and Juan Carlos Espinoza are among five Tijuana officers under arrest in a crackdown on a drug gang that has beheaded rivals then hung their mutilated corpses from bridges.

The five officers were caught at a house this week with six cartel members who were holding two rival gangsters captive, Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of the federal police, said.