Mexico drug war: Two army generals detained over alleged links to organized crime

Mexican soldiers have detained two army generals, including a former assistant defense secretary, over their alleged links to organized crime.

According to the Associated Press, retired General Tomas Angeles Dauahare, who was assistant defense minister from 2006 to 2008, and General Roberto Dawe Gonzalez were being investigated for alleged ties to a Mexican drug cartel.

Gonzalez led an elite unit in the western state of Colima and is still stationed in the area, the BBC said.

"The generals are making a statement because they are allegedly tied to organized crime activities," an official at the Attorney General's Office told Reuters today.

Mexico’s organized crime unit was questioning the men, the BBC reported.

The army has been on the frontline in Mexico’s war on drugs. 

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President Felipe Calderon deployed soldiers and other military personnel at the beginning of his term in 2006 to fight the powerful and well-armed drug gangs.

But more than 47,000 people have died in the ensuing violence and polls show Calderon’s government, the National Action Party, is likely to lose power in the July 1 presidential election.

There has been a spate of violence in recent weeks. Last Sunday, the mutilated bodies of 49 people were found dumped at the entrance to the town of San Juan in the country’s north where the hyper-violent Zetas drug cartel is fighting the powerful Sinaloa Cartel for control over smuggling routes into the United States.