Mexico's Drug War - Page 29

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican army has seized a cache of more than 926 tons (840 metric tons) of precursor chemicals used to make methamphetamines, one of the largest such seizures to date in Mexico.

The discovery came Wednesday, the same day an army patrol in another location found a sophisticated underground meth lab reachable by a 35-yard (meter) long tunnel.

Mexico has become a center for meth production, based on precursor chemicals shipped in from foreign suppliers, often in Asia.

The Defense Department said soldiers found thousands of sacks of phenylacetamide in a warehouse in the north-central state of Queretaro.

Photos from the scene of the raid showed the phenylacetamide stacked several yards (meters) high, and hundreds of drums of other chemicals also used to make meth.

In 2010 authorities seized 200 tons of precursor chemicals at the seaport of Manzanillo, a raid that the Attorney General's Office described at the time as the largest in Mexican history.

Traffickers have increasingly turned to such chemicals after Mexico imposed tight restrictions on pseudoephedrine, the most popular raw ingredient for meth.

In the northern state of Sinaloa, meanwhile, the army said soldiers found a sophisticated underground meth lab in a rural area near the coastal city of Mazatlan.

Construction was apparently continuing on the structure, which included a 1½-yard-wide entrance tunnel, a power generator, three large mixing chambers and a welding machine.

Mexican Drug Lord Officially Thanks American Lawmakers for Keeping Drugs Illegal

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera reported head of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, ranked 701st on Forbes' yearly report of the wealthiest men alive, and worth an estimated $1 billion, today officially thanked United States politicians for making sure that drugs remain illegal.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — Six suspected cartel gunmen were killed in an overnight clash with soldiers in central Mexico, the military said Saturday.

The gunbattle took place in Ayotlan, Jalisco. The town is about a 40-minute drive from Michoacan state where drug violence is rampant.

The soldiers say they were alerted that heavily armed men were guarding a hotel called Los Arcos. When they arrived the men opened fire, they say.

The army alleges that the men were members of the Zetas drug cartel, and say they found assault rifles, grenade launchers and ammunition at the scene. The bodies were taken to a morgue.

In nearby Guadalajara, a man was arrested trying to board a plane at the international airport carrying more than $290,000 in U.S. currency hidden in a suitcase with 12 pairs of women's shoes, Mexico's Defense Department said. He was headed for Panama.

MIACATLAN, Mexico (AP) — A Mexican judge on Tuesday sentenced a teenage U.S. citizen to three years in prison for homicide, kidnapping and drug and weapons possession. Authorities say the teen confessed to killing four people whose beheaded bodies were found suspended from a bridge.

Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as "El Ponchis," was given the maximum sentenced allowed for a minor in the central state of Morelos, said state prosecutor Jose Manuel Serrano Falmerol. Jimenez was tried in a state court because Mexico does not have a justice system to try minors at the federal level.

Mexican prosecutors said Jimenez was 14 years old.

Authorities say the teenager confessed to working for the South Pacific drug cartel, led by reputed drug lord Hector Beltran Leyva.

When he was handed over to federal prosecutors, the boy calmly said in front of cameras that he participated in four killings while drugged and under threat. The bodies were found in the tourist city of Cuernavaca.

In November, stories of a hit boy, maybe as young as 12, spread after a YouTube video appeared with teens mugging for the camera next to corpses and guns. One boy on the video alleged that "El Ponchis" was his accomplice.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The number of homicides in Mexico rose by nearly a quarter in 2010 compared to the year before as the drug war intensified across the country, Mexican statisticians said Thursday.

The National Institute of Statistics and Geography recorded 24,374 homicides over the course of last year, a 23 percent increase from 19,803 in 2009. Last year's figure represented 22 killings for every 100,000 residents in the country.

Many but not all of the homicides were committed by organized crime organizations, the institute told The Associated Press.

Violence has risen in many Mexican regions as a result of drug trafficking and other organized criminal activity. President Felipe Calderon's office has said that more than 15,000 homicides in 2010 were attributed to organized crime.

According to the statistics institute, the U.S.-bordering state of Chihuahua saw the highest number of homicides with 4,747. Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico, registered 2,505.

Sinaloa is the headquarters of the Sinaoloa cartel, while Chihuahua includes the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez. Those two states are among the most affected by drug violence, and together they accounted for 29 percent of Mexico's homicides.

The institute cautioned that its information was preliminary and said it awaited definitive results that are to be released in September.

Operation Fast and Furious was a plan to infiltrate criminal gangs in Arizona and allow them to illegally buy guns so agents could see the routes traffickers used to smuggle weapons into Mexico for use by violent drug cartels.

But somehow the operation was bungled and U.S. firearms agents allegedly lost track of nearly 2,000 weapons, some of which have been linked to the killing of a U.S. border patrol officer.

On Tuesday officials testified before a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., to explain how the plan went so dangerously wrong.

Police crackdowns have failed to control much of the trade in drugs and guns running north and south across the Mexico-U.S. border.

So, two years ago, agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix developed a strategy.

Instead of busting low-level gun buyers, they would instead try to track the guns, videotape and tail the suspects, all in hopes it would lead to the bosses.

But then Brian Terry, a border patrol officer, was shot dead last December, and guns found at the scene were among those the ATF was supposed to be keeping an eye on.

The patrolman's family is demanding answers...

Mexican police say a suspected drug cartel leader they arrested last week has confessed to ordering the killing of 1,500 people in northern Chihuahua state.

Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez is also a suspect in the murder of a United States consulate employee last year near a border crossing in Ciudad Juarez.

Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, said on Sunday that the capture was "the biggest blow" to organised crime in Ciudad Juarez since he first sent about 5,000 federal police personnel to the city in April 2010 in a bid to curb violence in one of the world's most dangerous cities.

Acosta, 33, was caught on Friday in the northern city of Chihuahua, said Ramon Pequeno, head of the federal police's anti-drug unit.

The arrest was not confirmed until Sunday, just before Acosta was displayed to the media in Mexico City.

He was limping as he was brought before the cameras, escorted by two masked federal police officers.

Acosta, who is nicknamed "El Diego", told federal police that he had ordered 1,500 killings, Pequeno announced at the news conference.

Investigators say that he was also the mastermind behind an attack that killed a US consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another consulate worker, in Ciudad Juarez.

The National Rifle Association has filed suit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, following new regulations requiring gun stores in border states to report multiple rifle sales. Beginning Aug. 14, if you live in a border state like Arizona or Texas and want to sell more than one semi-automatic rifle (above .22 caliber and with a removable magazine) within five days, then you will have to let the ATF know or risk your license. That is unless the NRA can block it.

These regulations include rifles like the AK-47, which are regularly trafficked across the border by agents working for Mexico’s largest and most dangerous drug cartels.

It’s all part of a revamped White House strategy, revealed last month aimed and at combating organized crime. The plan calls for blocking financial transactions from criminal networks, strengthening legal systems in partner nations and stopping “the illicit flow from the United States of weapons and criminal proceeds that empower TOC networks.” That’s national security lingo for drug cartels, among other groups.

But there’s one problem: The administration’s top agency dedicated to stopping illegal weapons trafficking, the ATF, is embroiled in a scandal over a disastrous plan to allow straw-purchased guns to “walk” into Mexico. Most of the weapons later disappeared out of the agency’s sight due to lack of resources (and sheer negligence), according to testimony by ATF officials last week to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

On August 07 2011 07:31 zorrillo1 wrote:
Mexico, Afghanistan, Florida, South America is one big network


U.S. Government is The Real Kingpin – Alex Jones Infowars

http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/6122

On August 07 2011 07:40 Chargelot wrote:


I wonder how that man hides his tin foil hat. It must be made of invisible tin technology produced by our alien overlords.

On August 15 2011 11:57 zorrillo1 wrote:
Lindsay Lohan Makes Undercover Purchase On Venice Street (video)


The 25-year-old actress kept busy writing in a notebook and smoking cigarettes … while those around her kept watch.

At one point, Lindsay can be seen taking a small plastic bag from a mystery man. Once her friend inspected the goods, Lindsay handed over the cash to pay for it. Once her purchase was completed, she took time to chat with some young fans passing by.

http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/6308

On August 19 2011 08:48 PanN wrote:


What does Lindsay Lohan buying drugs have to do with the mexican drug war? I'm not trying to sound like a dick here I'm just curious and confused.

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Two dozen gunmen burst into a casino in northern Mexico on Thursday, doused it with a flammable liquid and started a fire that trapped gamblers inside, killing at least 32 people and injuring a dozen more, authorities said.

The fire at the Casino Royale in Monterrey, a city that has seen a surge in violence this year, represented one of the deadliest attacks on an entertainment center in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006.

"This is a night of sadness for Mexico," said federal security spokesman Alejandro Poire in a televised address. "An unspeakable, repugnant, unacceptable act of terror has been committed."

"These unspeakable acts of terror will not go unpunished," Poire said, adding federal authorities were aiding state forces in the investigation.

State police officials quoted survivors as saying about two dozen armed men burst into the casino, apparently to rob it, and began dousing the premises with fuel from tanks they brought with them. The officials were not authorized to be quoted by name for security reasons.

It was the second time in three months that the Casino Royale was targeted. Gunmen struck it and three other casinos on May 25, when the gunmen sprayed the Casino Royale with bullets, but no was reported injured in that attack.

Last month, gunmen killed 20 people at a bar in Monterrey. The attackers sprayed the bar with rounds from assault rifles, and police later found bags of drugs at the bar.