MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) --Mexico's government said Friday that it
has arrested 16 men on charges of helping protect a leading drug baron and
that most of them were federal anti-narcotics agents, policemen or former
army soldiers.

Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, the head of Mexico's special unit on organized
crime, said the arrests came in a series of recent raids against the Gulf Cartel, based
in Mexico's northeastern state of Tamaulipas and led by Osiel Cardenas.

The Gulf Cartel allegedly smuggles cocaine and other drugs across the Texas border
and the U.S. government last year offered a $2 million reward for Cardenas' arrest.

Vasconcelos told a news conference Friday that the sweep against Cardenas' cartel
led federal agents to arrest six former army soldiers as well as active members of a
federal anti-drugs unit and two local policemen.

The government of President Vicente Fox took office in December last year pledging
to stamp out official corruption and work closely with U.S. authorities in attacking
the drug cartels that move huge quantities of South American cocaine through
Mexico and into the United States.

But officials admit the task is complicated by the ability of drug lords to pay off the
military and police officers who are supposed to lead the anti-narcotics campaign.

Vasconcelos, however, said the recent raids had weakened the Gulf Cartel by
dismantling one of Cardenas' key units. He said three light planes, 12 homes, 13
vehicles and 18 weapons were seized in the raids in Tamaulipas.

  Copyright 2001 Reuters. All rights reserved.