Border News

[Flying Pig]

Keeping up on my border intelligence information, this is an interesting story.  A Mexican Marine killed during a drug raid was being laid to rest in Mexico City when his funeral procession was attacked and his surviving family murdered. And not by accident.  Mexican cartels are now starting to attack and kill the families of police and military members at funerals.  Why? Because its easy to find them there.

The message, "You go after us, we'll wipe out your families."

In the US aw enforcement arena, it is generally accepted that its just a matter of time before is spills over even more.  The border areas of the US are already and have already been under assault for years.  Phoenix is now the kidnapping capitol of the US and border patrol agents are getting into shoot outs almost daily.  The areas CAP is involved in is a hot-bed of activity.  Our drawback is that many members, outside of CAP are pretty far removed from this element. And our some of the things we do have the potential of really making someone mad. Definitely keep up your vigilance when out there on missions.  The drug cartels are more inter twined in US public life than most people realize.

These organizations have contacts and intelligence networks that could dwarf the intelligence services of many countries.  Never assume that an area is safe to discuss the "find" you made on the border, or that garden you helped PoDunk Sheriffs Office locate. 
I overheard a conversation once from a mexican cartel member begging the cartel not to kill his family after we had eradicated the grow he was providing security for.  Keep you eyes open and be aware of who you are bragging to.  And for those of you who have your unauthorized "Counter Narcotics Flight Crew" patches, put them in your shadow box.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091222/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico

[Strick]

Good advice ...............I hate when every person at the FBO knows you are doing CD

[Gunner C]

This has been used by insurgencies (drug cartels being economic insurgencies) for millenia.  These guys are completely ruthless and will think nothing of going against police/NG/Reg Mil/CAP, including their families.  They are successful because they had no problem with doing the most hideous things to their enemies.

[wingnut55]

Thanks

I guess CAP will Knee Jerk when we have an aircrew murdered in their sleep because everyone at the Hotel knows who we are and what we do. The Guy who puts gas in the plane. Everyone at the home base Airport.

What happened to the Secret clearance for all CAP members? 

[Flying Pig]

I dont know that having secret clearances would do anything for us.  The LE officers don't have security clearances so I dont see why CAP members need them as a whole.

[blackrain]

I agree.

I can think of few things (BOTH online and physical security wise) that would help CD missions stay more secure but they wouldn't be suitable for open discussion. Starting off I would prefer a version of CAP Talk limited to verified CAP members only and including sub-forums limited to authorized individuals. Much like AKO (Army Knowledge Online). Of course keeping substantive discussion official email to official email is a simple thing to do for starters.

There is no doubt the cartels are as brutal as any terrorist organization. With the amount of money at stake nothing surprises me. In fact if you boil it down money drives a lot of brutality even when the terrorist professes that he is committing acts out of religious or political beliefs.

[Flying Pig]

Gosh...have any of us spent any time in and around Imperial flying little red, white and blue airplanes???

An interesting site.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/border-wars/all/Overview25#tab-Overview

Imperial Valley illegal alien smuggling conviction


Alberto Noriega-Perez convicted for role in Imperial Valley immigrant smuggling ring
By BROOKE RUTH
Digital Media News Editor,December 17, 2009

A Brawley man who had a prominent role in an immigrant-smuggling ring in the Imperial Valley before being arrested in 2006 was convicted in San Diego Federal Court on Monday.
Alberto Noriega-Perez was convicted of conspiracy to bring in illegal aliens for financial gain, conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, 18 counts of bringing in an illegal alien for financial gain, and 18 counts of concealing/harboring an illegal alien.
Noriega-Perez, who is in his mid-70s, is set to be sentenced March 25.
Prosecuting attorneys weren't available for comment as of press time.
At its peak the smuggling organization was moving 60 to 80 immigrants a day through the Imperial Valley at a cost of $1,500 per immigrant, according to archived news reports.
Noriega-Perez rented two properties in Holtville, one on East McCabe Road and one on East Alamo Road, to the so-called Perfino Alien Smuggling Organization. The properties were used for the purpose of gathering and harboring illegal immigrants for transportation to Los Angeles.
A jury also decided Tuesday that both properties were used to commit the offenses that Noriega-Perez was charged with.
Noriega-Perez's arrest, and the arrest of the alleged leader of the smuggling ring resulted from a three-year joint investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol, according to archives.
>> Digital Media News Editor Brooke Ruth can be reached at 760-335-4665 or

[bosshawk]

Gee: I wouldn't know anyone who has flown out of IPL in red, white and blue airplanes.  CPB must have changed the colors of their aircraft.

[Flying Pig]

Close to home for CAWG members.


TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) -- Mexico has captured a kingpin accused of terrorizing his way to the top of a gang fighting for control of key U.S. drug routes - even ordering rivals dissolved in acid. Tuesday's arrest, announced by U.S. and Mexican officials, capped a series of victories in Mexico's U.S.-backed war on narcotics.

Teodoro Garcia Simental, known as "El Teo," was arrested at 5 a.m. (8 a.m. EST; 1300 GMT), said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego, California. She said she had no other details.

A U.S. official and a Mexican law enforcement official said he was captured in La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur state. He is the second alleged major drug lord to be taken down in less than a month by President Felipe Calderon's government.

Neither the U.S. nor the Mexican official was authorized to give a name for publication.

Garcia is considered to be among the country's most vicious kingpins. Officials say he was to blame for many of the beheaded bodies found dumped in Tijuana and that he ordered hundreds of bodies to be dissolved in acid.

He is listed among Mexico's 24 most-wanted drug lords and the government had offered $2.1 million for information leading to his arrest.

Officials say Garcia was a cartel lieutenant who broke away from the Arellano Felix gang following the arrest of its leader, Benjamin Arellano Felix, and the death of his brother, Raul.

Garcia formed his own gang, which was zealous in killing street-corner peddlers as he tried to solidify his control of eastern Tijuana. He is believed to be allied with the Sinaloa cartel, run by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to an army document dated February 2009.

His arrest comes on the heels of another triumph for Calderon's drug war. Mexican marines killed reputed kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva on Dec. 16 during a raid on an apartment complex in Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City.

Federal officials on Jan. 2 arrested his brother Carlos Beltran Leyva in another blow to the gang.

Calderon's government has sent more than 45,000 troops to drug hotspots to confront the cartels. Cartels have responded with a vengeance, unleashing unprecedented killings. More than 15,500 people have died from drug violence since 2006. The government says most of the dead are smugglers.

[Flying Pig]

Border Agents Seize Nearly 1 ton of Marijuana.

SAN DIEGO --

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized nearly a ton of marijuana hidden in a banana shipment at a cargo facility near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Officials say a drug-sniffing dog alerted officers to the stash Monday when the Mexican truck driver applied to cross into the U.S. at the Otay Mesa cargo facility.

Officers say they opened the boxes in the truck and found 235 packages of pot worth an estimated $1.1 million.

The driver was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and is being held at a downtown San Diego jail.

Last week, officers found 315 packages of marijuana in a shipment of peppers and green beans.

___

[a2capt]

Last week, officers found 315 packages of marijuana in a shipment of peppers and green beans.

Don't forget the pot in the septic truck .. along with it's native content, on I-19 headed towards Tucson.

The truck had bogus plates and bogus commercial data on it. The only thing real was part of the content in the tank.

[Neo001]

The message, "You go after us, we'll wipe out your families."

In the US aw enforcement arena, it is generally accepted that its just a matter of time before is spills over even more.  The border areas of the US are already and have already been under assault for years.  Phoenix is now the kidnapping capitol of the US and border patrol agents are getting into shoot outs almost daily.  The areas CAP is involved in is a hot-bed of activity. 
 
Situational Awareness is the key.  (too many years in LE)
http://www.thecounterterroristmag.com/
  The aforementioned link did a 3 issue article(s) on the Drug (If you subscribe you can have access to their archives) e Cartelshttp://www.homelandsecurityssi.com/ssi/content/view/388/203/ 

Stratfor.com has an excellent map telling which cartel controls which geographic area.

Education is power.

[Flying Pig]

The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY --

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Wednesday said he won't withdraw troops from the embattled border city of Ciudad Juarez despite criticism that the presence of thousands of soldiers has exacerbated violence.

"The violence (in Ciudad Juarez) is not due to the presence of federal forces," Calderon said at a ceremony honoring the air force. "The presence of the federal forces is due to the violence that was and still is there."

Calderon has deployed 5,500 soldiers to Ciudad Juarez trying to stop vicious gangs battling for drug-dealing turf and lucrative trafficking routes north, but violent crime has surged. More than 4,000 people have been killed in the city of 1.3 million across from El Paso, Texas, in the last two years.

Calderon said the troops were sent to Ciudad Juarez because crime had overwhelmed local authorities. He said withdrawing them would only worsen the situation.

Calderon launched a crackdown on drug traffickers shortly after taking office in December 2006, deploying more than 45,000 soldiers and federal police to drug hotspots. Across the country, more than 15,000 people have died in drug-related violence since then.

[Spike]

^ Want to get Mexico in line??  Place them on the State Departments "No travel to list".  Blockade the waters and deploy Federal Forces (American) to the border states and stop everyone and everything coming across.  Stop all foreign imports of Mexican goods and more importantly stop the tourism industry.

If Americans stop going to Cancun etc on vacations, the Mexican Government would start actually doing work.

Every single one of you that spends money in Mexico not only funds terrorism but supports the trafficking of humans and illegal drugs.

Enough is enough.

[lordmonar]

NAFTA

[N Harmon]

If Americans stop going to Cancun etc on vacations, the Mexican Government would start actually doing work.

That worked really well on Cuba.