Mexico finds 113 fake police in raid on local force

Prosecutors and soldiers raided a local police force in central Mexico and found a strange thing: 113 of the 185 officers weren't policemen at all.

The Public Safety Department in the central state of Puebla said late yesterday that the 113 are facing charges equivalent to impersonating an officer.

Some had presumably paid to avoid vetting and registration procedures.

The state government took over policing duties in the town of San Martin Texmelucan.

The state interior secretary said the town government had lost control and could no longer guarantee the safety of residents.

Diodoro Carrasco cited multiple instances in which bagged, bound or dismembered bodies had been left on the town's streets.

The town is also a centre for contraband sales of fuel stolen from government pipelines.