In another scandal at the national security force, at least two National Guard officers assigned to Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, are under investigation for extortion after a video surveillance camera caught them repeatedly trying to break into a private home and demanding an 11,000-peso (US $452) bribe.
The footage, apparently filmed on April 30, May 1 and May 3, is filled with expletives and threatening language.
“I already have the grenades here, do not make me use one of those grenades because you are going to pay me,” the armed, uniformed officer can be heard shouting during one of the videos.
In another, an officer breaks a porch light with a wooden board. “Give us the money, dude, and we will stop bothering you.”
The subject never opens the door.
After the videos were released, the National Guard stated that the alleged perpetrators will be investigated and the full weight of the law will be applied. “Neither in this nor in any other case will impunity be allowed,” said the institution.
“With absolute outrage today we watched a video circulating on social networks in which elements of this institution in #Sonora can be seen carrying out behavior totally removed from the laws, principles and values of the National Guard,” the force posted to its official Twitter account. “We will not rest until we eradicate this type of behavior, which does a lot of damage to our nascent institution.”
The incident comes a little more than a week after photos surfaced on social media of National Guard officers sharing a meal with a family of politicians linked to criminal activity in Venustiano Carranza, Puebla.
A senior official in the Guard’s internal affairs division was relieved of his duties last week while under investigation, the force announced on social media. He was one of seven guardsmen in the photos.
On April 29, a video surfaced of uniformed National Guard members who were stripped of their weapons by local police in Los Reyes, Michoacán, because they appeared drunk and were acting aggressively.
And on May 4, the news website La Silla Rota posted a series of photos purporting to show National Guard officers in Irapuato, Guanajuato, throwing a party attended by sex workers.
President López Obrador formed the National Guard in 2019 in a new effort to bring organized crime under control.
Source: Infobae (sp)
