Mexico City - Mexican police thwarted an attempt on the life of Mexican President Felipe Calderon by a drug cartel agent, the Federal Public Security Ministry said Monday.

Ramon Eduardo Pequeno Garcia, a section chief in Mexico's Federal Police, said in a press conference that Dimas Diaz Ramos was planning to perpetrate the attack when he was arrested Sunday in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa along with four other suspects.

Diaz Ramos is also suspected of being a financial agent for the Pacific Cartel led by Mexico's two most wanted drug bosses, Ismael Zambada, known as "El Mayo," and Joaquin Guzman, "El Chapo," who escaped from a top security prison in January 2001.

Pequeno Garcia said the authorities launched an investigation into Diaz Ramos a year ago connected to a "threat against the President of the Republic in the wake of the war that he declared against organized crime."

Calderon, who is meeting Monday with his North American counterparts Barack Obama and Stephen Harper in Guadalajara, deployed Mexico's army in 2006 to clamp down on drug trafficking, which has claimed more than 9,000 lives since early 2008.(dpa)