Jalisco near top of Mexico’s narco stats

The federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has identified Jalisco as the home of one of Mexico’s largest illicit drug industries.

From 2007 through to mid-2012, authorities charged 15,490 people for drug-related activities in Jalisco, more than in any other state aside from Baja California. Those charged range from suppliers and low-level traffickers to high-ranking members of criminal organizations.

Of 12,010 preliminary investigations into drug-related crimes in Jalisco during this period, 7,109 cases resulted in convictions, a rate of 59 percent. With 15,490 people accused of involvement in these crimes, the alleged criminals outnumber Jalisco’s municipal police, who total 13,135 officers according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).

During the same period, 34,488 people were charged in Baja California, 13,493 in Sonora, 7,683 in Sinaloa and 7,290 in Guanajuato.

The latest alleged narcos to be arrested in Jalisco were three men identified as members of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion.

They were detained last Monday on the highway from Barra de Navidad to Autlan, at the junction for Casimiro Castillo. Police discovered an AK-47 assault rifle, three pistols and a fragmentation grenade stashed in secret compartments of the suspects’ pickup truck.

Police chief to carry on

Popular Jalisco Police Chief Carlos Najera will be the only member of Governor Emilio Gonzalez’s cabinet to retain his position under Aristoteles Sandoval.

Najera’s contract will not be renewed until it expires on February 28 but the Executive State Committee of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has confirmed that he will continue as police chief.