MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hundreds of Mexican soldiers and federal officers seized the police headquarters of Tabasco state on Saturday following a surge of violence in the tropical region, local media reported.
Soldiers forced dozens of state police to hand over their weapons for registration, detained at least three people and suspended at least one senior official in the city of Villahermosa, the reports said.
Tabasco, normally peaceful compared to many Mexican states, is experiencing a crime wave that is being blamed on drug gangs at war with each other and the government.
Last week police found a severed head in front of the state police headquarters. It apparently was left there as a threat by criminals.
Earlier this month, gunmen with assault rifles seriously wounded the Tabasco state security minister and killed his bodyguard.
“We decided to ask for help in investigating everything that has happened recently and since last year, in terms of kidnappings ... murder attempts and other things,” senior state official Humberto Mayans told local radio.
President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of troops and federal police to fight organized crime in the north of Mexico and Pacific coast states. But now the violence has spread to other areas including Tabasco.
In January soldiers disarmed municipal police in the northern border city of Tijuana, where officers are often seen as in the pocket of drug gangs.
Mexico’s Security Ministry could not be reached for comment about the Tabasco operation.
Despite Calderon’s nearly four-month crackdown, hundreds of murders have been linked to drug crime so far this year, similar to the same period last year. Drug smugglers killed at least 2,000 people in 2006.
Additional reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez
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