Brazen prison break in Mexico
Source: Agencies |
December 19, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MORE than 140 inmates escaped via the main entrance of a prison near the US border on Friday in the biggest Mexican jailbreak since the government began its war on drugs four years ago.
Hours later, suspected hit men blew up a car outside a police station near the business hub of Monterrey in the latest act of brinkmanship between drug gangs and officials.
In a brazen move underscoring Mexico's weak prison system, inmates slowly filed out of the main vehicle entrance of a prison in Nuevo Laredo across from Texas early on Friday, two police sources in northern Tamaulipas state said.
Later that day in the small town of Zuazua on the northern outskirts of Monterrey, an SUV exploded, injuring two people and knocking out power. It was the first such explosion near Mexico's richest city, a business center with close US ties.
While authorities declined to say if the two incidents were linked, Zuazua lies on the highway between Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo and the area has become a major flash point in the drug war since early this year, when a cartel split into rival factions.
The blast shattered windows and destroyed a car parked nearby but its impact was limited. The crumpled remains of the bombed vehicle were just visible from behind a police cordon.
In Nuevo Laredo, soldiers and federal police surrounded the prison. Tamaulipas' security chief Antonio Garza told local radio that the jail's director was reported as missing along with 141 inmates. He confirmed the vehicle entrance was used as the escape route and blamed prison guards for complicity.
"I am sure that inside (the prison) there was very severe collusion (between guards and drug gangs)," he said.
Hours later, suspected hit men blew up a car outside a police station near the business hub of Monterrey in the latest act of brinkmanship between drug gangs and officials.
In a brazen move underscoring Mexico's weak prison system, inmates slowly filed out of the main vehicle entrance of a prison in Nuevo Laredo across from Texas early on Friday, two police sources in northern Tamaulipas state said.
Later that day in the small town of Zuazua on the northern outskirts of Monterrey, an SUV exploded, injuring two people and knocking out power. It was the first such explosion near Mexico's richest city, a business center with close US ties.
While authorities declined to say if the two incidents were linked, Zuazua lies on the highway between Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo and the area has become a major flash point in the drug war since early this year, when a cartel split into rival factions.
The blast shattered windows and destroyed a car parked nearby but its impact was limited. The crumpled remains of the bombed vehicle were just visible from behind a police cordon.
In Nuevo Laredo, soldiers and federal police surrounded the prison. Tamaulipas' security chief Antonio Garza told local radio that the jail's director was reported as missing along with 141 inmates. He confirmed the vehicle entrance was used as the escape route and blamed prison guards for complicity.
"I am sure that inside (the prison) there was very severe collusion (between guards and drug gangs)," he said.
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