A corruption probe in Mexico has snared the country's former drug czar, accused of taking a $450,000 bribe from one of Mexico's violent drug cartels in exchange for information, the Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 22.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Cleanup, has resulted in the arrest of Noe Ramirez, former head of Mexico's elite anti-drug agency, and investigators suspect that many of the agents tasked to fight the cartels have been secretly working for the enemy. To date, more than 35 high-level law enforcement officials have been implicated in the probe.

U.S. drug czar John Walters called the arrest of Ramirez "a positive action." A decade ago, another Mexican drug czar, Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, was convicted of working with cartels after having been praised on both sides of the border for his antidrug work. That led to the formation of the supposedly corruption-resistant special drug-fighting agency in Mexico led by Ramirez.

The head of drug intelligence at the agency also was detained recently, as was the head of Interpol's Mexico office.