Large Weapons Cache Seized Crossing into Mexico from Arizona
Mexican federal border inspectors and the Army seized a large cache of weapons crossing from Arizona Wednesday afternoon.
Mexican federal border inspectors manning the port of entry into Nogales, Sonora, conducted a random inspection of a 2003 Chevy Silverado pickup truck with California plates, according to local media. The driver later identified as Alfonso “N,” reportedly attempted to dissuade border officials from conducting an inspection but later yielded. Authorities say they discovered 24-semi-automatic rifles, 112 magazines, and 6,173 various caliber rounds of ammunition concealed within the bed of the truck.
The discovery of the weapons resulted in the deployment of the Mexican Army to assist with the investigation. Sonora is dealing with an escalation in cartel violence. A reported21 killings were registered in nine days since the new municipal government administration was sworn in to office. The violence is caused by warring cartels seeking dominance over the border state which features direct smuggling routes into Arizona.
On September 14, police discovered seven heads abandoned in an ice cooler in the rural community of Bácum, Sonora. Another five homicides were recorded on September 21, one of which was captured in an audio recording. Additionally, the Mexican Army seized 1,055 pounds of methamphetamine last Friday near the Arizona border, on the outskirts of Caborca.
Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.) You can follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at robertrarce@gmail.com
Another Journalist Murdered in Mexico: 15th in 2018
A group of gunmen shot and killed a Mexican journalist and local radio personality in the southern state of Guerrero. The murder comes less than a week after another journalist was killed in nearby Chiapas.
The murder took place at a mechanic shop in Taxco Guerrero when a group of gunmen shot Arturo Porcallo Eguiluz, who also went by the name DJ Pikachu. The 34-year-old journalist worked for Radio y Television de Guerrero. A motive for his murder has not been officially released. Authorities did not reveal if Porcallo received threats prior to his murder.
Porcallo’s death comes less than a week after the murder of Mario Leonel Gomez Sanchez, a journalist in Chiapas targeted for work in exposing corrupt politicians, Breitbart Texas reported. The most recent homicide marks the 15th assassination among media workers in Mexico in 2018.
Other murdered journalists or media workers include:
August 29 — Javier Rodriguez Valladares was a cameraman and TV journalist for Canal 10 in Cancun, Quintana Roo. He was shot along one of the main avenues in the tourist hotspot.
August 8 — Rodolfo Garcia Gonzalez was a freelance photographer who often worked with Semanario7. He was shot and killed in Guanajuato.
July 24 — Ruben Pat Cauich was a veteran journalist who founded the online outlet La Playa News in Quintana Roo, not far from Cancun. He had been previously threatened and was ultimately killed at a bar in the tourist hotspot of Playa Del Carmen.
July 3 — José Guadalupe Chan Dzib was a crime reporter for La Playa News, Aqui y Ahora, and other local outlets near Cancun, Quintana Roo. He was gunned down outside of a local bar in Playa Del Carmen.
May 29 — Hector Gonzales Antonio was a national correspondent for Excelsior and worked in various local outlets. He was kidnapped, tortured, and dumped in a vacant lot.
May 24 — Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, a financial writer for one of Mexico’s largest publications, was found beaten to death in her home in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
May 14 — Juan Carlos Huerta Martínez, a reporter and broadcast host, was killed by a team of gunmen outside his home in Tabasco.
March 21 — Leobardo Vázquez Atzin ran the online news site Enlace Informativo Regional in Veracruz who reported on a local mayor tied to an illicit property grab and was killed by a team of gunmen.
February 14 — Pedro Damián Gómez Bonifaz, director-owner of the Panorama Político, was found dead with obvious signs of trauma caused by a sharp-edged weapon at his home in Tijuana, Baja California.
February 5 — Leslie Ann Pamela Montenegro del Real, a popular YouTube satirist and blogger who used the pseudonym “La Nana Pelucas,” was gunned down while eating dinner at a restaurant in Acapulco.
January 21 — Agustín Silva Vásquez, a freelance police reporter from El Sol del Istmo, disappeared in Matías Romero, Oaxaca, according to his family members who reported his kidnapping. Silva Vásquez is presumed dead.
January 13 — Carlos Dominguez Rodriguez was ambushed and killed by a team of assassins in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, who stabbed him to death in front of his family. Authorities arrested a relative of the former mayor of Nuevo Laredo and several other individuals allegedly linked to the case.
January 6 — José Gerardo Martínez Arriaga, an editor with El Universal, was purchasing toys for his family in Mexico City when he was robbed and killed at gunpoint.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Tony Aranda from the Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.
7 Migrants Found Hiding in Freight Train in South Texas
7 Migrants Found Hiding in Freight Train in South Texas
Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of migrants who smuggled themselves into the U.S. via freight train.
At about 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, agents working near Hebbronville, Texas, observed a person holding a rope on top of a grain hopper freight car. The man climbed down from the rail car and fled into the brush before agents made their way to the train, according to Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.
The agents carried out a search of the grain hopper and found five people hiding inside. The migrants climbed out by utilizing a rope attached to the car’s hatch, officials stated.
After taking the five migrants into custody, the agents conducted a search of additional railroad cars and found two additional migrants in hiding.
The agents transported the seven migrants to the Border Patrol station for processing on immigration violations. They also conducted a biometric background investigation that identified the seven migrants as Mexican nationals who were illegally present in the U.S.
Earlier in the week, agents apprehended 100 additional migrants who had been packed into the back of tractor-trailer rigs as “human cargo.” In the first incident, agents assigned to the Interstate 35 checkpoint, located between Laredo and San Antonio, found 65 migrants locked in the back of a trailer at about 9 p.m. on September 23. The temperature in the truck was in excess of 90 degrees at the time.
The following morning at about 2:30 a.m., agents discovered 49 additional migrants in the back of a refrigerated tractor-trailer at the same inspection station. The temperature inside the refrigerated trailer was reported to be 59 degrees.
None of the migrants in these three incidents required medical attention, officials stated.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
Mexican Cops Find 38 Human Body Fragments in Clandestine Gravesite near Texas
Mexican authorities confirmed the discovery of 38 human body fragments in a Reynosa field near the Texas border. The find follows official and human rights group efforts to locate discarded cartel victims.
The Tamaulipas government provided Breitbart Texas with a statement confirming the discovery in the Alianza Social neighborhood. Human rights groups and law enforcement forces were searching various areas in the city to locate human remains. The 38 fragments were uncovered after law enforcement used specially trained tracking dogs.
State authorities gathered the remains and turned them over to forensic investigators to attempt victim identification. As Breitbart Texas reported, the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros continue to be the epicenter of a fierce turf war between rival cartel factions. The infighting is tied to the control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes into Texas.
Mass graves, cartel killing fields, and incineration sites are now a common sight in the Mexican cities immediately south of Texas.
The Mexican military found a similar cartel killing field in May 2018, where gunmen used large drums and tires to incinerate their victims. The site was found relatively close to the banks of the Rio Grande River border.
In October 2017, Breitbart Texas published a series of exclusive photographs from a large cartel crematorium inside of an abandoned home in Reynosa. Cartel gunmen used industrial drums to fully incinerate the remains of their victims.
In September 2017, Breitbart Texas reported exclusively on the discovery of a clandestine mass grave in Rio Bravo, where members of the Gulf Cartel buried the bodies of several rival gunmen. Also in that month, Breitbart Texas reported on another cartel incineration site where authorities found 55-gallon drums used to incinerate victims. At the time, authorities found several bone fragments and human skulls.
In June 2017, Breitbart Texas reported exclusively on the discovery of a cartel incineration site in Reynosa. There, cartel gunmen had used industrial drums to burn bodies.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Mexican Cartel Gunmen Dump Murdered Marines in Cancun
Cartel gunmen operating in Cancun kidnapped, tortured, and murdered two Mexican Marines. Their bodies were wrapped in white sheets and left in a busy street. The executions come at a time when Cancun has officially tallied 420 murders in nine months.
The gruesome discovery was made this week along 13th Street in Cancun–not far from a public hospital. Authorities responded to the scene after citizens discovered two large bundles wrapped in white sheets with bloodstains. State investigators found the remains of two Mexican Marines stationed nearby.
A law enforcement source said the discovery triggered investigation number 560/2018 by the Quintana Roo Attorney General’s Office. Initially, authorities figured the victims to be street-level drug distributors, however, they later confirmed the ranks of an active duty sergeant and a corporal with the Mexican Navy. The two men were reported missing in the days prior.
The Mexican Navy issued a public statement condemning the murders and expressing condolences to surviving loved ones. According to naval officials, the pair went missing on their days off and were stationed in Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo.
The once peaceful tourist hotspot is seeing a spike in cartel violence as Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) continues to grab control of the area’s shipping ports, smuggling routes, and lucrative sex trade.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Tony Aranda from the Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.
Border Patrol Station Agents Apprehend 270 Migrants in One Day
Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Ajo Station in southwest Arizona apprehended nearly 270 migrants in less than 24 hours. The apprehensions illustrate the trend of migrant crossing in the dangerous Arizona desert continues in increasing numbers.
Ajo Station Border Patrol agents patrolling west of the Lukeville port of entry came upon a group of 164 migrants on Tuesday afternoon. The following day, agents encountered another group of 100 migrants in the same area, according to Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials.
Officials stated the two groups were composed of family units and juveniles who traveled to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The migrants ranged in age from 11-months to 59-years-old.
All of the migrants were in good health, officials stated.
Tucson Sector officials are seeing a significant increase in the apprehension of families and unaccompanied minors this year, Breitbart Texas reported. The arrest of Family Unit Aliens in the Tucson Sector increased from 1,755 in FY 2017 to 3,431 in FY 2018 — up 95 percent, according to the August Southwest Border Migration Report. Unaccompanied Alien Children apprehension rose by 44 percent from 2,994 in FY 2017 to 4.323 in FY 2018.
Earlier this month, Tucson Sector agents arrested a group of 163 migrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the Arizona desert. The group comprised of men, women, and children–including a four-month-old infant, Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials stated.
“Transnational criminal organizations exploit the vulnerability of foreign nationals with false promises of legal status and encourage dangerous border crossings, which place lives at risk,” Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials said in a written statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. So far this year, nearly 296 have died attempting to illegally make their way to destinations in the U.S., according to the Missing Migrants Project. More than 80 of those died in southern Arizona.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
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