By Eliane Portillo

Mexico’s Attorney General (PGR), Marisela Morales Ibáñez, reported Wednesday that she has asked the United States government to extradite six people suspected of providing guns to drug cartels.

Morales told Congress that three of the suspects are being held in Texas and three in California. She also said two U.S. citizens were being held in Mexico on similar charges.

She pointed out that one of the cases originated in Madera, California. U.S. officials said this month that two men were being held on suspicion of smuggling .22-caliber rifles into Mexico in a case unrelated to drug cartels. Morales said that she will continue with her efforts to purge the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and she will not tolerate any type of corruption within the government agency.

She said the PGR will do its best to hamper arms smuggling across the border and is currently working with the U.S. government to combat criminal organizations. The greatest challenge of all is to strengthen our public institutions. We will not only combat corruption, but impunity as well. I assure you, the PGR will be thoroughly cleaned up and purged, she said.

All parties in the Chamber of Deputies committed to help the PGR in the creation of new laws to upgrade Mexico’s current legal system.