Mexico seizes five in drugs swoop

Mexico has deployed thousands of troops and police against the cartels

Mexican police have arrested five alleged members of one of the country's most powerful drugs cartels.

Authorities say the five belong to the La Familia cartel, which controls drugs trafficking in the state of Michoacan.

They were arrested in a raid on a restaurant in a Pacific coastal town in the southern state of Guerrero.

The arrests come three days after 27 officials, including 10 mayors, from Michoacan were arrested for alleged links to La Familia.

The cartel infiltrating local police "above all" police spokesman Rodolfo Cruz Lopez told the AFP news agency.

"It is also starting to permeate higher levels."

Mexico's security ministry said the latest raid took place in the small town of Petacalco, which authorities say is a strategic drugs trafficking site being close to the Pacific ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Zihuatanejo.

Violent reputation

The La Familia cartel is considered to be one of the most violent drug gangs in Mexico.

Among those detained in the previous wave of arrests was the mayor of Uruapan, which made headlines in 2006 when hitmen dumped five human heads on the dance floor of a bar.

The western state of Michoacan was chosen by President Felipe Calderon to launch his military offensive against the cartels in 2006.

Tens of thousands of troops have since been deployed throughout the country to tackle drugs-related violence which has claimed the lives of nearly 9,000 people in the last two years.