Policemen suspected of mass murder

More than a dozen Mexican policemen have been arrested following the killings of at least 11 people, whose bodies were found buried in the garden of a drug gang’s safe house.

Thirteen were arrested yesterday and at least four others are on the run, said officials.

Deputy Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos said a man who lived at the safe house in the border town of Juarez has confessed he helped kill the victims, acting on orders from several state police officers.

The arrests shed light on a police force long believed to be inept at best and corrupt at worst.

Mauro Conde, a state police spokesman, confirmed the arrests and said the commander, Miguel Angel Loya, has not shown up for work since Monday.

Conde said state officials have tried to purge corrupt officers from their ranks, firing 300 policemen in the last two years.

The money from drug trafficking is “too tempting for people who are not committed to public service,” he said.

For a decade, hundreds of murders have gone largely unsolved, including a string of young women who were killed in a similar manner.

Conde said there is no evidence tying the police to the killings of women, whose bodies are often dumped in the desert outside of town.

Some people say they aren’t surprised by the arrests.

“We all knew they were behind this,” said Luz Elena Caraveo, whose brother disappeared along with his friend a year ago. She said witnesses have told them police kidnapped them.