WORLD BRIEFING / MEXICO
In the latest in a string of brazen attacks by drug traffickers, gunmen ambushed a prisoner transfer convoy in western Mexico, killing eight officers in an attempt to free a high-level cartel member, police said.
At least 20 assailants fired in three gun barrages Saturday on the column of vehicles as it raced between an airport and a prison in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, police said.
Police said it was a well-planned attack intended to free Jeronimo Gamez, cousin of Arturo Beltran Leyva, the reputed leader of one of Mexico’s top cartels. Gamez was arrested in Mexico City in January and was being moved to a prison in Nayarit’s capital, Tepic. None of the nine prisoners being escorted escaped.
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