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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
An undisclosed number of municipal police agents in Zacatecas city were disarmed by Policia Federal, Mexican Army troops and Zacatecas state police agents early Sunday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.
El Sol de Mexico news daily reported on its website Sunday afternoon that federal security forces had conducted an inspection of firearms in use by the Zacatecas municipal Policia Preventativa agents, and then decided to seize all weapons.
According to the report, the Zacatecas state Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP), General Jesus Ortiz Pinto and the commander of the Zacatecas state Policia Preventativa VÃctor Manuel Bosque apparently approved the plan to disarm the police agents.
After the disarmament took place, police agents scheduled to do so went out on regular road patrols unarmed.
Mayor of Zacatecas municipality Dagoberto Muñoz attempted to receive information as to why the police had been disarmed, but was told to contact the Secretaria de Defense Nacional (SEDENA), the controlling agency for the Mexican Army.
The disarming of local police agents en masse in Mexico is rare but it does happen, usually when a municipal police corporation fails certain security and reliability tests.
According to the article, federal and Zacatecas state security teams would be performing additional patrols for election day.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com