MEXICO CITY - A Mexican federal official says three mayors in the western state of Michoacan have been charged with allegedly having links with a drug cartel.

Federal chief of criminal investigations Tomas Zeron says the mayors of the towns of Huetamo, Lazaro Cardenas and Patzcuaro have been charged with links to the Michoacan-based Knights Templar drug cartel.

Zeron said Monday the mayors Dalia Santana, of Huetamo; Arquimides Oseguera, of Lazaro Cardenas; and Salma Karrum, of Patzcuaro, were detained weeks ago and that a federal judge ordered they be charged with organized crime.

Get Breaking News Delivered to Your Inbox

Zeron says all three appear in videos and photographs with Servando Gomez, the alleged leader of the Knights Templar cartel, that were made public on social networks.