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marmar

(76,985 posts)
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 01:19 PM Mar 2013

El Paso Vice: When Drug Cops Become Criminals


from Der Spiegel:


The war on drugs has become so intense that the line between criminality and law-enforcement has blurred. Salvador Martinez, an undercover officer at the Mexican border, ended up in prison after he went too far.

Salvador Martinez began his career with 150 grams of heroin. He met the dealer in the Texan city of El Paso in a diner with large windows during the lunch rush. More witnesses reduce the risk of execution, Martinez calculated. Both of them drank iced tea, he recalls. Martinez wanted dark heroin, La Negra, as the Mexicans say.

"Where is the money?" the dealer asked.

"Around the corner," Martinez said.

He had learned to remain vague, never saying where the money was hidden or giving precise information about amounts and people. ......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/failing-drug-war-when-cops-become-criminals-a-886441.html



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