Mexican Army Crossing the Border while Drug Cartels make Elaborate Tunnels

This just in from our pal The Uncooperative Blogger

Previously I reported how the Mexican Army is Crossing the U.S. Border, well here is more on the subject.

Mexico City - The United States is demanding that Mexico explain why men in military uniform apparently stopped US border patrols from intercepting a drug shipment this week.

Monday’s incursion onto US territory was the latest example of the increasing violence in the border region in recent weeks, US Ambassador Antonio O. Garza said late Wednesday in a statement.

Garza said he sent a note seeking an explanation to the Mexican government, which he urged in the statement to ‘take this elevated violence seriously.’

Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez rebuffed the ambassador’s note as a ‘hasty’ reaction and denied any Mexican military involvement in the incident.

But, Border patrol agents and other law enforcement officials are angry that Mexican and some U.S. officials refuse to acknowledge that Mexican soldiers are crossing into the United States.

A Border Patrol agent who spoke on condition of anonymity said continuous cover-ups by Mexican and U.S. officials have put many agents and American lives in danger.

“I think it shows how desperate the situation has become. I think it’s insulting to expect Americans to believe what (Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael) Chertoff and the Mexican government are saying,” the agent said Wednesday.

“Isn’t it the most reasonable explanation that if men are dressed as soldiers, with military vehicles and mounted machine guns that these guys are soldiers - not some cartel trying to ruin diplomatic relations?”

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said that he was insulted by the U.S. government’s lack of response to the serious nature of the incursions.

“I don’t believe they are rogue elements because of the markings of the vehicles and because of the insignias on their uniforms and further we’ve caught them in the past,” Bonner said.

“Mexico is being less than honest with us. I don’t understand what the U.S. interest is in aiding and abetting what is going on at the border. I don’t have faith that it will stop before some of our law enforcement officers are murdered in the line of duty.”

A U.S. law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said the FBI and other agencies found no evidence the uniformed men involved in Monday’s incident were Mexican soldiers.

But Hardrick Crawford Jr., a former special agent who was in charge of the FBI’s El Paso’s office, said he covered numerous narcotics cases along the border and documented military incursions since the mid-’90s. He said he expected both governments to deny the incursions.

“It’s an embarrassment to both countries for the truth of these incursions to come out,” Crawford said.

“I was concerned about the incursions on the border when I first got to El Paso. I wanted agents to go interview every rancher and resident in the area and I wanted the military incursions to be documented. I thought this would be important information - but many people didn’t do anything about these incursions.”

On top of all this, federal agents report finding 2 tons of marijuana inside a tunnel that runs for nearly three-quarters of a mile between Mexico and California.

Investigators discovered a sophisticated cross-border tunnel yesterday extending about a half-mile and found about 2 tons of marijuana on the Mexican end.

The tunnel begins about 85 feet below a small warehouse about 175 yards south of the U.S. border. The other end is in an apparently vacant industrial building in Otay Mesa.

Late last night, authorities were still pulling marijuana out of the tunnel, which is outfitted with electricity and a ventilation system. The building is in an industrial neighborhood near Tijuana’s airport.

The concrete-lined shaft is 6 feet by 12 feet with a metal ladder that leads to the packed-earth tunnel, which is tall enough for a person to stand in.

A gurney hanging from a pulley system attached to one of the building’s beams allowed items to be moved into and out of the tunnel. Two trucks and a van were parked inside the warehouse.

Authorities said the elaborate tunnel bore the hallmarks of Mexican drug cartels, which have spent millions of dollars in the last 15 years to find a way to move contraband across the border.

When Mexican officials allowed the media into the small warehouse shortly before 9 p.m., reporters saw about 300 bundles of marijuana stacked more than 5 feet high.

In the United States, the warehouse where the tunnel ended – north of Siempre Viva Road – was surrounded by law enforcement agents last night.

The tunnel is the largest of the 15 discovered under the border in California and Arizona since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, CNN reported. The Customs Service and Drug Enforcement Administration agents found it Wednesday night.

Sources:
Daily Bulletin
M&C News
Science Daily
Sign On San Diego
CNN

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