2 Police killed in drug raid in Mexican capital

Mexico City, Jan 28 (EFE).- Two police officers and two suspects died in an exchange of gunfire Friday during a drug raid on a residence in Mexico City’s Azcapotzalco borough, authorities said.

“Two police repelled an aggression and lost their lives, as did two armed criminals,” the municipal public safety office (SSC) said, adding that the investigation of a Jan. 18 double homicide revealed that the residence was being used to store and sell illegal drugs.

“Regrettably, we lost two comrades in the line of duty. All support and solidarity to their families. It is a great loss for the SSC,” Public Safety Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Twitter.

A third police officer remains hospitalized after being wounded in the incident, the SSC said in a subsequent statement.

The search of the residence in Azcapotzalco turned up quantities of marijuana and “psychotropic pills” along with firearms, according to the statement.

Nationwide, homicides declined 3.6 percent last year to 33,308, including 1,005 murders in Mexico City.

Authorities attribute many of the killings in the capital to turf battles between two rival criminal organizations, Union Tepito and Anti-Union Force. EFE

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