The arrested officials came from Mexico's elite organized crime unit and are accused of pocketing as much as $450,000 per month from the Beltran-Leyva cartel -- one of the biggest transporters of Colombian cocaine -- in exchange for secret law enforcement information, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

One alleged cartel informant worked for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and leaked Drug Enforcement Agency to organized criminals, Mexican officials said.

Mexico Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora told the Times more people would be fired and leaders will undertake a major overhaul of the attorney general's office in a effort to flush out other workers who are passing information along to drug traffickers.