MEXICO CITY – A Mexican journalist who recently published a book revealing alleged links between drug cartels and authorities filed a criminal complaint on Friday accusing officials of plotting to have him killed.

Anabel Hernandez, author of “Los señores del narco” (The Drug Lords) took the step after being told by someone he considered a reliable source that certain officials had offered police officers promotions in exchange for killing him, the Mexico City district attorney’s office said.

Hernandez told Efe Friday he could not disclose the names of the officials because the matter was under investigation.

But days before filing the formal complaint, he told a crowd of some 200 people at an event to promote his book that the threats came from federal Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna.

He says the officials threatening him asked the prospective police assassins to fake a car accident or make it appear that he died in an episode of road rage involving another driver.

Hernandez went to the capital DA’s office on the advice of Mexico’s independent National Human Rights Commission, which urged the journalist to request protection for himself and his family.

Sixty-five journalists have been slain in Mexico since 2000, according to figures from the rights commission. EFE