The beheading of three Rosarito policeman and one civilian earlier this week could be an act of election time cleansing by drug cartels, according to one San Diego academic who has sources close to the action. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has details.
The men were abducted by a heavily armed convoy. The next day, their bodies were found in a vacant lot in Rosarito. Their heads were discovered miles north in Tijuana.
Many say the murders are the latest battle in the drug cartels' war to control key drug smuggling routes.
Jeffery Mc Illwain who studies border security at San Diego State University suspects the violence could also be tied to Mexico's July second elections.
Mc Illwain: "Because there's no civil service protection like we have here in the Unite States, many people that are prosecutors, judges police officials will all lose their jobs or they might have other people who will come in and replace them. As a result of that the cartels that have influence with the incoming regimes or the outgoing regimes may find it necessary to clean house for the individuals they've been working with."
The assault was one of the largest in Baja California history. Amy Isackson, KPBS news.
