HOUSTON --

A Houston firefighter was one of more than 20 people arrested in a federal investigation into money laundering and drug trafficking, KPRC Local 2 Investigates reported Wednesday.

Houston Fire Department officials said Christopher Fillmore, 39, was arrested Wednesday morning but had no other details.

HFD officials would only say Fillmore had been with the department since June 25, 2002, and worked in the northwest part of the city.

A source familiar with the investigation confirmed to Local 2 that the arrests involve members of a suspected drug trafficking and money laundering organization working with the Zeta cartel in Mexico.

The "Los Zetas" are considered one of the most violent and deadly drug traffickers in Mexico. Originally the Zetas were made up of former Mexican Special Forces officers who defected to the Gulf Cartel to form its protection arm.

However, government officials said the "Zetas" has become a powerful drug cartel in its own right.

A federal indictment in Beaumont charges Fillmore and several others with the intent to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

The investigation involved more than a dozen federal and local law enforcement agencies and led to the arrest of suspects in Houston, McAllen, Brownsville, Edinburg, Nashville, Tennessee and West Palm Beach, Florida.

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