Soldiers to screen for guns at ports

Soldiers to screen for guns at ports
By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 06/13/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

Mexican soldiers will be checking for weapons and other contraband on the international bridges in the near future, Juárez city officials confirmed Thursday.

The checks will be part of efforts to stop the flow of illegal guns smuggled into Mexico from the United States. A date for the bridge operations has not been disclosed, but the checks are expected to start before the end of the month.

The military and federal police already conduct similar checkpoints on Juárez streets. The military will also be testing Mexican customs officers for corruption with polygraphs, drug tests and psychological screens.

The flood of killings continued Thursday with the fatal shooting of a federal police officer and the discovery of the bodies of a man and woman, who were wearing handcuffs. Two men in a BMW were shot and killed Thursday afternoon in front of a retail center, according to news reports.

Benito Javier Flores Sotelo, 34, was found shot multiple times in a car at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday outside a home in the 2000 block of Portal street, state police said. Flores Sotelo was wearing a uniform and had an identification card for a member of the roads division of the Federal Preventive Police.

At 3:45 a.m., an unidentified man and woman were found dead, each with a gunshot to the head and their

hands handcuffed behind their backs next to a Dodge pickup parked in a vacant lot near Avenida Paseo de la Victoria, about 100 meters from the Coprofesa, state police said. A black ski mask was found next to the woman. A note left on the truck's windshield stated, "This will keep happening to you ... if you keep supporting El Chapo."

The note refers to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the reputed leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, which is believed to be waging a war against La Linea, or the Juárez drug cartel.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/juarez/ci_9568933