Mexico's anti-drug tsar is accused of taking bribes

The senior official who until last July headed the Mexican government's drive against the country's drug barons was accused yesterday of himself accepting $450,000 (£300,000) from a powerful cartel. The news was received as further evidence the wealth of the country's drug gangs is buying them protection at some of the highest levels of government.

Noe Ramirez is the highest-ranking law enforcement official detained yet in a sweeping investigation aimed at weeding out officials who allegedly leak information to violent drug smugglers.

Attorney General Eduardo Medina said Mr Ramirez had accepted $450,000 from Mexico's so-called Pacific cartel, which offered to pay him monthly for alerting them to planned police operations. Mr Ramirez's arrest on Thursday takes to five the number of top officials detained so far this year as part of "Operation Clean House".

Ramirez was named assistant attorney general for organised crime by President Felipe Calderon, when he took office in 2006.