Reports: Secret info leaked to Mexican drug gangs

According to several reports a U.S. embassy official admitted to leaking vital counternarcotics information to Mexican drug gangs. The unnamed employee worked as a “crime expert” and received $30,000 from the Beltran-Leyva drug gang, said a report that originally appeared in the Mexican press.

The government infiltration by Mexican drug cartels appears to be deeper than originally thought:

The report comes on top of a disclosure by Mexican authorities Monday that top officials in the federal Attorney General's office were also on the cartel's payroll.

Assistant Attorney General Marisela Morales says two top officials of the office's organized crime unit and at least three federal policemen have been passing along information on surveillance targets and potential raids for at least four years…

Morales says the agents and officials received payments of between $150,000 and $450,000 a month.

The reports of corruption come on the heels of the weekend arrest of an allegedly senior drug gang member. Eduardo Arellano Felix (image) was arrested in Tijuana is believed to be the second-in-command of the notorious Arellano Felix trafficking cartel.

Image- CNN
Sources (English)- Al Jazeera English, The Latin Americanist, AFP, MSNBC
Sources (Spanish)- El Universal