dea police special agent
Mexico's Sensitive Investigative Unit (SIU), a special law enforcement unit designed to combat organized crime and narcotrafficking, was disbanded last year because it was compromised after being infiltrated by organized crime.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) of Mexico confirmed the news on Thursday at an official press conference, validating a Reuters original report on the subject at the time.

According to Mexico News Daily, AMLO confirmed the Reuters report that "Mexico's organized crime-fighting Sensitive Investigative Unit (SIU) - whose officers collaborated with and were trained by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration" was ended "more than a year ago."

It appears that members of Mexico's infamous drug cartels had planted one or more informants into the unit at some point, and when this was discovered, the unit was summarily dissolved.

According to El Sol de Mexico, the unit, while it was still in operation, was said to have worked closely and in a bilateral manner with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for more than a quarter-century. It had branches in at least 15 countries, El Sol further reports.

The unit was also famous for having been instrumental in the 2016 capture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who was then the leader of the Sinaloa cartel.