Mexican Official Sought in Drug Probe Found Dead


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Mexican official sought in drug probe found dead 

Copyright (c) 1999 Nando Media
Copyright (c) 1999 Reuters News Service

CUAUTLA, Mexico (May 28, 1999 8:53 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - The
former top law enforcement official in Mexico's Caribbean tourist state of
Quintana Roo, facing an arrest warrant in connection with a drug probe, has
been found dead in the central state of Morelos, officials said Friday.

Miguel de Jesus Peyferitte had served as state attorney for Quintana Roo
state in Mexico's southeast during the recent governorship of Mario
Villanueva, who has been a fugitive since March 27.

Authorities have been investigating Villanueva for allegedly allowing drug
traffickers to use Quintana Roo as a major route for Colombian cocaine
destined for the United States.

Authorities said they were investigating Peyferitte's death as a homicide.
Forensic scientists plan to perform an autopsy.

Justice officials in Morelos said on Friday they positively identified the
body of Peyferitte after his wife, tipped off by an anonymous telephone
caller, told police the body was lying in a house in the city of Cuautla in
Morelos state.

Police sources said Peyferitte's body bore no trace of bullet or knife
wounds and was found lying beside bottles of alcohol and some unidentified
pills. Investigators said Peyferitte had been dead for up to 36 hours. They
said they were continuing to search the house for clues.

Preliminary investigations showed that Peyferitte had been living in the
house with two other people for the last six weeks.

Raul Gonzalez Duhart, the delegate of the Federal Attorney General's Office
(PGR) for the state of Morelos, said officials were deciding whether to make
the case a federal concern.

"(For the moment) the crime is just a homicide," Gonzalez told reporters.
"It is not yet an investigation by the PGR."
 
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