ICE sting in El Paso nets former Mexican police official

AP/Examiner:

A Mexican city's former safety director has been arrested on drug and bribery charges.

Saulo Reyes Gamboa, the former director of public safety in Ciudad Juarez, was arrested Wednesday night across the border in El Paso, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Carl Rusnok said.

He is charged with possession with intent to distribute, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and bribery of a public official. Reyes was to make his initial court appearance Thursday.

Online court records didn't show an attorney for Reyes and officials didn't immediately know if he had one yet.

Reyes, 36, was taken into custody in a parking lot after allegedly paying off someone he thought was a corrupt federal officer to ease the smuggling of drug loads through international ports of entry, ICE said.

"It is most troubling and disheartening to discover that individuals who are charged with enforcing the law and protecting the public may themselves be involved in criminal activity," said Roberto Medina, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in El Paso.

Reyes was appointed in January 2007 to supervise operations for the Juarez police department. He owns several businesses in Ciudad Juarez, including some U.S. restaurant chain stores and a radio station, according to ICE.

After his arrest, agents searched a home in Horizon City. They found 985 pounds of marijuana in the garage and arrested a woman agents say was stashing drugs Reyes arranged to be smuggled into the country earlier in the day, officials said.

...

I wonder if he was ever on the receiving end of such a transaction in his former capacity? Juarez used to be a fun place with great restaurants and in interesting market. There is a lot of cross border traffic on a daily basis. Maids who live in Juarez work in middle class homes in El Paso. There is a good deal of legitimate business between people in the two cities and then there are stories like this. I think the drug gangs have made most of the border cities less attractive for tourist.

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