ACAPULCO - Federal investigators are probing the possibility that some of the police officers killed in brazen daylight attacks by assassins dressed as soldiers were themselves working with traffickers, the Attorney General´s Office (PGR) said Wednesday.Presumed drug traffickers wearing military uniforms were seen videotaping the killings of five police investigators and two secretaries, which may have been a settling of scores between the rival Sinaloa and Gulf drug cartels, both of which have tried to corrupt local police.
Viviana Macías, a federal PGR spokeswoman, said the possibility that some of the slain officers had been working with smugglers is "one of the leads we are following."
"All we know now is that it appears to be an organized crime gang that disguised themselves as soldiers," Macías told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
One of the five slain police investigators had escaped an attempt on his life just last month, Macías said.
Two groups of about eight gunmen arrived at the stations Tuesday, announced they were conducting a weapons check, and then opened fire after the officers handed over their guns, according to Erit Montúfar, who is in charge of state police investigators in Guerrero.
Montufar said in one of the offices a gunman asked: "Are you the only ones here?" And at the other office, another gunmen asked: "Are these all the weapons you have?"
The officers answered "yes" to both questions and handed over their weapons, after which the gunmen opened fire while videotaping both shootings, Montúfar said.
Enrique Gil Mercado, a special state prosecutor in Guerrero, said all the assailants escaped. He declined to comment on why the assailants apparently videotaped the killings.
Police found a car and two vans believed to have been abandoned by the attackers, with military uniforms and weapons inside. Montúfar said witnesses reported seeing numerous men getting out of at least one of the vehicles wearing T-shirts and shorts.
On Wednesday, the Mexican newspaper Milenio reported that videotaping executions has been a characteristic of Edgar Valdéz Villarreal, aka "Barbie," who allegedly runs the Sinaloa cartel´s assassins and who, according to the PGR, is in charge of defending Acapulco from attacks by the Gulf cartel. Macías said the PGR had not yet determined if Tuesday´s attacks were the work of either cartel.
