Reuters said that Mexico City is going to promote a new movement to control the rampant weapon problem. Gun owners are allowed to swap guns for computers, cash or video-game consoles.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Police who have raided vice-ridden Mexico City neighborhoods in a push against drug violence hope to take guns off the streets by offering to swap them for computers and video-game consoles.

Launching the program Tuesday in the notorious inner-city barrio of Tepito, which police stormed last month, city police chief Joel Ortega said anyone who turns in a high-caliber weapon like a machine gun will get a computer.

Owners can swap smaller guns for cash or Microsoft Corp.s Xbox video-game consoles under the plan.

Newly elected Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has moved quickly to restore order to the chaotic capital by going after well-known crime dens and clearing the citys narrow streets of informal vendors whose stalls have blocked sidewalks for years.

Last month police stormed Tepito, a warren of scruffy homes and market stalls a few blocks north of the capitals main square, seizing a tenement complex known as "The Fortress" -- reputedly a major cocaine and marijuana distribution center.

"This area is a symbol of crime," said police spokesman Ricardo Olayo.

Organizers say they have 100 computers ready for the first wave of the program, each worth 8,500 pesos (?769) and equipped with software donated by Microsoft. On the first day, Olayo said the city received 17 guns, including 12 from Tepito.

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