The Associated Press

Wed, May 21, 2008 (3:47 p.m.)

Mexico's drug violence has claimed another top police official: the second-in-command in the central state of Morelos.

The body of Victor Enrique Payan was found with a second, unidentified Morelos state police officer late Tuesday in the trunk of a car south of Mexico City, city police official Miguel Amelio Gomez said Wednesday.

Attached to their bodies was a message warning against joining the Sinaloa drug cartel, based in the northwestern state of the same name. Authorities could not immediately explain the message, but were investigating to see if the officials had any ties to drug traffickers.

Mexican police have a history of corruption, and a number of police and soldiers sent to fight the cartels have ended up joining them.

Mexico's president has sent more than 24,000 soldiers nationwide to fight drug gangs. The traffickers have responded with unprecedented violence, beheading police and killing soldiers.