Mexican cops ‘execute 22 suspected drug dealers before trying to cover up crime’… as selfie surfaces showing El Chapo’s son cosying up to actress Kate Del Castillo
Police are accused of placing weapons next to their victims to manipulate the scene of the massacre
MEXICAN police have been accused of executing more than 20 suspected drug smugglers during a raid with a renewed focus on the rings after a selfie of an actress and drug cartel boss's son emerged.
One police officer and 42 suspects were killed in the raid on a ranch in Tanhuato, in the Michoacan state, on May 15 last year - but the country's humans rights commission has since accused police of arbitrarily killing at least half of the victims.
Police reportedly used a Black Hawk helicopter during the operation, firing more than 4000 rounds into the ranch with the commission saying five suspects had been killed in the helicopter attack with 22 arbitrarily executed and 15 dying in unclear circumstances.
But the high body count aroused suspicions with the National Human Rights Commission saying police tried to cover up the executions by moving bodies and placing weapons next to them.
The commission's president Luis Raul Gonzalez Perez accused police of lying about the incident.
He said: "The investigation confirmed facts that show grave human rights violations attributable to public servants of the federal police.
"Violations against life for the excessive use of violence led to the arbitrary death of 22 civilians."
Another two bodies were burnt by police with two suspects tortured in custody.
Mexico's national security commissioner Renato Sales has denied the accusations.
The suspicions come after an astonishing selfie emerged of drug lord El Chapo's son cuddled up with movie star Kate Del Castillo.
The photo shows the actress cheek to cheek with Alfredo Guzman, who was snatched from a restaurant at gunpoint earlier this week.
The 43-year-old Mexican actress became notorious when she set up a meeting with El Chapo - real name Joaquin Guzman - and Hollywood star Sean Penn.
At the time El Chapo was on the run after breaking out of a maximum security Mexican jail.
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Now the actress has become engulfed in a new scandal over a picture found on an abandoned smartphone in the restaurant Alfredo was kidnapped from.
The snap - published by Mexican media - shows Del Castillo cuddling up to Alfredo and smiling.
Officials believe it was taken in October last year when she met his father, the boss of the notorious Sinaloa cartel.
According to local media, police found the selfie on Alfredo's phone, dropped when assault rifle toting gunmen kidnapped him.
Alfredo and other members of his father's cartel were led at gunpoint from a restaurant.
Police believe the kidnapping was carried out by rival gang Jalisco New Generation Cartel to establish themselves as top dogs.
There has been no ransom demand.
Del Casillo is one of Mexico's biggest stars and found Hollywood success with movies like Under the Same Moon and Border Town.
But her meeting last year with El Chapo - after a series of flirty Tweets - dragged her into a legal scandal with Mexican authorities.
Earlier this month she filed legal papers demanding they drop an investigation into accusations of money laundering and obstructing justice.
Her lawyer told media: "The Mexican Attorney General's office has constantly violated her rights to due process by leaking information of the investigation to the media, and violating her presumption of innocence."
An order demanding she surrender herself to the Attorney General, according to reports, has been provisionally revoked and the actress can now travel freely into Mexico.
Friends have said they now fear that the selfie could drag her back into the case.
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