'Corrupt' police boss arrested over 43 student teachers' killing

Police in Mexico have arrested a senior officer, Francisco Salgado, for his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 student teachers last year.

The student teachers had disappeared after a protest and are believed to have been brutally murdered and incinerated at a rubbish dump by members of a drug gang.

Salgado, a 41-year-old, was the deputy head of the police in the city of Iguala, where the victims disappeared last September.

It is believed that the student teachers were abducted by corrupt police officers and handed over to the drug gang that executed them and burnt their bodies.

[READ THE FULL STORY OF THE STUDENTS' BRUTAL ABDUCTION AND MURDER HERE]

The killings sparked nationwide protests in Mexico and worldwide condemnation, leading to the capture of the former Mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, for their involvement in the kidnap of the students.

Witnesses statement alleged that Salgado, who initially went into hiding, was paid 600,000 pesos (€35,006) a month by the gang for protection.

Police statements say he also personally ordered that about 13 students be handed over to members of the gang.

He was captured in the central Mexican city of Cuernavaca, carrying AK-47 cartridges, the country's Interior Ministry said.