Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- State and federal authorities in Mexico traded barbs over the escape of 141 inmates from a border city prison as police stepped up security and searched for convicts on the run.
The inmates -- apparently in collusion with prison workers -- escaped through a service entrance for staff vehicles, according to information from a preliminary state investigation presented to reporters Friday. The prison director also "disappeared," said Antonio Garza Garcia, public safety secretary for Tamaulipas state.
After state authorities divulged the massive escape at the Executions of Sanctions Center, Mexico's interior ministry slammed local officials in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
"It is deplorable, the absence of effective measures of control and guarding on the part of local authorities, which has allowed frequent escapes from prisons, putting community security at risk," the ministry said in a statement.
Garza fired back, arguing that state officials had repeatedly asked the federal government for help guarding prisons, which often house federal prisoners serving time for their connection with drug gangs. CNN
