TIJUANA, Mexico, June 8 (UPI) -- A former mayor of Tijuana, Mexico, now facing weapons charges, was transferred Wednesday to a prison in Baja California.
Jorge Hank Rhon and 10 co-defendants had been held in Mexico City after their arrest Saturday. They were moved to a facility in Tecate, near the U.S. border, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday only 10 of the 88 weapons seized during a raid on Hank's compound in Tijuana were licensed. Soldiers also seized more than 9,000 rounds of ammunition.
Hank, 55, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for decades, served as mayor of Tijuana from 2004 to 2007. He inherited a fortune from his father, a former provincial governor, and owns a casino and dog track in Agua Caliente.
Hank's supporters say the charges are political. Several thousand people held a rally in Tijuana to support him, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Many wore T-shirts with the slogans "Todos Somos Hank" or "We are all Hank."
"This crime was pre-fabricated," said Miguel Mendoza, a PRI activist from Colonia Lazaro Cardenas on the outskirts of Tijuana. "They are afraid of him, because this time we are going to make sure that he becomes governor."
