By IANS/EFE,
Mexico City : A drug cartel in Mexico got access to key information about anti-drug operations conducted by Mexican police and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, a media report has said.
The Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman knew, at least until May 2009, “details about investigations being conducted by the navy and the Special Organised Crime Prosecutor’s Office,” a report in the Reforma newspaper said Monday.
The cartel also obtained “reports that the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) provides to Mexico,” the newspaper reported.
Mexican army troops found classified documents about security forces deployments in the possession of a cartel member who was arrested in May 2009 in Sinaloa state.
The documents contained “information that only circulates among a few high-level officials in the government”, the report said.
“Guzman was aware of every step that the federal government took against the Sinaloa cartel,” it said.
Sinaloa is Mexico’s oldest and largest drug trafficking organisation.
The classified documents contained descriptions of ranks and responsibilities, code names, e-mail addresses, cell phone numbers and identification numbers used by federal armed forces commanders in radio services, Reforma said.
The drug cartel also kept an accounts book with codenames of federal officials on the cartel’s payroll, a list that “has not been completely deciphered,” the report said.