U.S. Haven for Mexican Police Periled in Drug Case

U.S. authorities are providing protection for a number of Mexican police officers who apparently assisted in arranging the capture of a Mexican drug-smuggling suspect purportedly tied to the kidnap-slaying of drug agent Enrique Camarena, according to federal law enforcement sources.

The sources, who asked to remain anonymous, said an undetermined number of Mexican police officers--and members of their families--are being provided with protection in the United States by the U.S. Marshals Service.

They fled Mexico after Mexican drug traffickers directed death threats against them, said the sources, who could not say how many people are being assisted or how long they will remain in the United States.

The revelations represent the latest twist in the increasingly baffling case of Rene Martin Verdugo, the 34-year-old Mexican national who U.S. authorities say may have information on Camarena’s slaying. Many unanswered questions still remain regarding Verdugo’s alleged role in the Camarena murder and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his arrest in Calexico on Jan. 24.

The Mexican police officers now being protected in the United States apparently assisted in Verdugo’s apprehension. Howard Frank, Verdugo’s attorney, has said in court that his client was kidnaped by armed men in Mexico who drove him to a hole in the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and handed him over to U.S. authorities who were waiting on the American side.

When apprehended by U.S. marshals in Calexico, Verdugo was already blindfolded and in handcuffs, according to a knowledgeable source.

U.S. officials have denied any wrongdoing in the case, but they have declined to provide details about Verdugo’s arrest.

On Sunday, the San Diego Union, citing a “source close to the investigation,” reported that U.S authorities paid Mexican state police agents to kidnap Verdugo. If so, the kidnaping and bribery could be a violation of Mexican and U.S. laws. The Union reported that 29 people, including Mexican police officers and their families, were under protection in the United States.

“We don’t consider that we did anything improper in executing the arrest,” Stanley E. Morris, director of the U.S. Marshal’s Service in Washington, told The Times.

Robert Feldkamp, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Washington for which Camarena worked, said his agency does not condone kidnaping or paying bribes to make an arrest. “It’s just not done,” Feldkamp said.

Mexican authorities could not be reached for comment.

Verdugo is being held without bond on charges of smuggling a ton of marijuana from Tucson, Ariz., to Vista in December, 1983. No charges are pending against him stemming from the Camarena case.

Frank, Verdugo’s attorney, has alleged that his client was apprehended improperly and should be allowed to post bond. U.S. officials have argued that no bond be granted for Verdugo because he might flee to Mexico.

Frank has denied that Verdugo has any knowledge of the highly publicized murder of Camarena, an undercover agent of the DEA who was murdered in Mexico last year along with a Mexican pilot. U.S. officials have said that Mexican drug traffickers ordered the murder.

“To my information, he (Verdugo) had no involvement and no information on the case,” Frank said Sunday.

DEA officials have said they believe Verdugo has information on the case but they refused to provide any details.

On Jan. 29, Frank said, U.S. marshals took Verdugo to Washington, where he was called to testify before a grand jury investigating the Camarena case. Verdugo was scheduled to return for a court hearing this morning in U.S. District Court in San Diego.