Two Mexican Officials Arrested in Sting : Border: Pair allegedly attempted to bribe Calexico officer to obtain the name of a Border Patrol agent who shot a youth.

The case involving the Border Patrol shooting of a Mexican youth took an unusual twist Tuesday when Calexico police arrested two Mexican consular officials who allegedly attempted to bribe a police employee to learn the identity of the agent involved.

Police arrested the pair at a fast-food restaurant in El Centro at 2:20 p.m. Tuesday after authorities had arranged a “sting” in response to a bribe offer of $500 to $600, said Leslie Ginn, Calexico chief of police. The two, both employees of the Mexican consul’s office in Calexico, were booked on suspicion of bribery, police said.

“Even if this were Joe Blow off the street, he’d have gone to jail for bribery too,” Ginn said.

The boy, Eduardo Garcia Zamores, 15, was shot Nov. 18 as he straddled the border fence between Calexico and Mexicali, the state capital of Baja California. The agent has contended that he fired because the youth was about to throw a rock. The youth, who is recovering from a wound to the right side of the torso, has denied throwing any rocks and says the shooting was unprovoked. Several witnesses have backed up his story.

The case has triggered huge protests as well as charges and countercharges by investigators of each country against their counterparts across the border. The youth has also filed a $9-million negligence claim against the Border Patrol.

Now, the bribery allegation seems likely to escalate the controversy.

The scenario began to unfold Monday, Ginn said, when a female Mexican consular official based in Calexico approached a female police employee and offered $500 to $600 for the agent’s name. Mexican officials want to extradite the agent, but have been unable to obtain his name from police or U.S. authorities.

The police employee notified her superiors, Ginn said, and a decision was made to go ahead with a “meet” as part of a criminal bribery investigation.

The two Mexican officials met Tuesday with the police employee at a Denny’s restaurant in El Centro, said Ginn, who added that police had placed the scene under surveillance. The two Mexican officials allegedly handed over the cash, and the police worker gave them a piece of paper on which was written a name--not the correct name of the Border Patrol agent, Ginn said. Then police moved in.

“They were arrested on the spot, brought down and booked into our city jail,” said Ginn, 58, who has headed the small department for 5.5 years after a 29-year career as a San Diego police officer.

Arrested were Ascension Martinez Pena, 46, the consulate’s chancellor, or administrator, and Karla Elena Correa Ibarra, 27, a secretary. The latter is the suspect who made the initial contact with the police employee, Ginn said. Both were expected to be released on $5,000 bail late Tuesday.

The police chief said he believed neither of the two had diplomatic immunity, which is routinely accorded to many representatives of foreign governments. “The big shots in Washington are going to have to explain that to me,” Ginn said.

But Marco E. Lopez, the San Diego attorney who is representing them, said he believes both are shielded from arrest by diplomatic protection.

Enrique Loaeza, the Mexican consul general in San Diego, declined to comment on the specifics of the case. But he said Mexican authorities would not engage in or condone criminal activity.

“The government of Mexico would not attempt to follow up on one crime by committing another crime,” said Loaeza, whose responsibility includes the Mexican consular office in Calexico.

Lopez said the two were “entrapped,” and that Calexico police were motivated by vindictiveness toward Mexican officials--charges denied by Ginn, the Calexico police chief.

Chief Ginn has charged publicly that his investigation of the shooting of the Mexican boy is “at a standstill” because Mexican authorities have refused to provide him access to the boy and have otherwise impeded his inquiry. Mexican officials have denied the charge, contending that they have been cooperative.