The Beechcraft King Air 300 hit the ground yesterday, 10 minutes after taking off in the state of Zacatecas at around noon, and the cause of the crash is under investigation, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said in a statement.
The three officials had been sent to the state's capital, also called Zacatecas, on Monday to detain three suspected members of the Zetas drug cartel.
After the suspects were jailed, the three agents took a flight bound for Mexico City late Monday but their plane returned to the airport due to "mechanical failures," Murillo Karam said. They waited until the next day to take their fateful flight.
The attorney general said he sent a senior prosecutor specialised in organized crime, the head of the investigative police and five experts to Zacatecas.