Grammy winner caught entertaining drug cartel

Tepoztlan, Mexico: When soldiers raided a drug cartel's Christmas party south of Mexico City, they found 16 automatic rifles, $280,000 (Dh1.02 million) in cash — and a Latin Grammy winner.

The presence of the Texas-based norteno singer Ramon Ayala at the gathering in a wealthy, gated-community and the lavish festivities showed the audacity of Mexico's drug cartels amid a government crackdown that has sent thousands of soldiers and police to track them down.

A spokesman for the federal Attorney General's Office said on Monday that Ayala was released after being questioned because authorities found no grounds for charging him with a crime.

Ayala and his norteno band, Los Bravos del Norte, were performing in a gated community of mansions outside the mountain town of Tepoztlan when sailors raided the house and a shootout ensued before dawn on Friday.

Three gunmen were killed and 11 others suspected of working for the Beltran Leyva drug cartel were detained.