America's Mexican Border Wars

[Tosh Plumlee]

Thanks Peter for pointing out the instructions on "How To" ... now you do it.

.... thats my point. I have done most of the things you mentioned. In fact I will be on the Maira Heller program in CA, in May as well as another I can't recall at the moment for June. I have been on the Expert Witness show with Mike Levine many times and the OC Weekly as well as the San Diego Weekly..... One person beating his own drum asking for others to investigate, confirm, and report their findings to the organizations of which you mentioned as well as the main media outlets appears self promotion. Its the substance of the story, in my view, not the person that has to be given to these outlets you mentioned, and given to them by many different people in order for it to work. Otherwise I see it as "self serving" and then the focus becomes on the person and not the story... so you need to be a "doer" and not a "talker"..... sent the packet you mention to as many as you can.., with your return address on it and let the chips fall where they may.... get in the bloat and row with me... Thanks again Pete for your interest. Your friend Tosh

[Tosh Plumlee]

Hey David... things are heating up down here in the borderland south of New Mexico and the mainstream public is being lied too as to the real facts of how Mexico's cartels and gangs are getting the guns to the gangs ..,and too, on what type of guns they are getting. Its a real circle jurk and the mainstream media does not want you not to know about all the details of how United States high grade military hardware is getting to these gangs and cartels... they want you to think they are all coming from Pawn Shops and Gun Shows in the United States.

Have a good read, I will be back in Mexico next week. They (The Mexican Army )is going to another ranch to dig up some more bodies that they think were buried there four years ago. I hope to get more pictures of the recovery... some of the bodies are rumored to be US citizens and the State Department has known about this location and the aledged Americans buried there for over three years. I see this mess as more politice being played on both sides of the border.... but our mainstream media and their powers that be will not allow you to know this for whatever reasons...

[Tosh Plumlee]

Note: Last week I posted the picture of the Anti Aircraft 50cal gun with over a thousand rounds of ammo, and the AP Mexico article. These weapons more than just the Gun were found from information obtain from the Joint Mexican American Task Force (TF-7) operating inside Mexico. The American public is being lied to by ATF and other agencies. Its still the same old inter-agency turf wars of old... Who gets the credit for the find and the intelligence gathering.

This FORUM received this information last week with pictures, before the fact,..., from a Task Force Team operating inside Mexico.
This is not a rifle and did not come from a Gun show or a pawn shop.. whats goin on here? The ATF is misleading the public on this weapon that was found in the Cartels hands. Why?

Mexican arms race: bigger guns for drug cartels

AP – Police remove weapons that were seized from suspected drug traffickers after presenting the weapons and …



By ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press Writer Alexandra Olson, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 20, 3:33 am ET

MEXICO CITY – An escalating arms race among Mexico's drug cartels casts doubt on whether Mexico or the U.S. can stop the flow of weaponry, despite renewed vows last week from presidents of both countries.

Stockpiles captured by Mexican soldiers show that warring traffickers are now obtaining military-grade weaponry such as grenades, launchers, machine guns, mortars and anti-tank rockets.


Some drug gangs have even sought explosive material that some experts worry could be used in car bombs and improvised explosive devices of the kind used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers found 14 sticks of TNT among an arsenal of hundreds of rifles and grenades seized in November from a house in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.

But so far, attempts at using bombs have been unsuccessful as drug gangs haven't yet developed the skills to build effective ones, said Stephen Meiners, a Latin America analyst with Stratfor, a private U.S.-based group. Authorities suspect the Sinaloa cartel tried to kill a Mexico City police officer last year with a homemade bomb that killed only the attacker.

"Once you have a bomb maker that has mastered that skill, unless that bomb maker is caught, he can keep constructing those devices and send them out to be deployed," he said.

One of the most worrisome weapons yet was seized this week just south of Nogales, Ariz.: a powerful gun mounted on the back of an SUV and protected by a thick metal shield. Police said it belonged to one of the Beltran Leyva drug gangs.
Mexican and U.S. authorities disagree on just what type of gun it was. Federal police coordinator Gen. Rodolfo Cruz maintains it was .50-caliber anti-air craft machine gun. ATF, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said it was an unmodified .50-caliber semiautomatic rifle made by TNW, a U.S. firearms manufacturer.

( NOTE: Look at the picture of the Gun posted here last week. (below) You can clearly see that this is not a rifle or a 50 cal gun...It was said my the Mexican Intel that its ben modified to use larger caliber ammo... ..you do not get these type of guns from Gun Shows or Pawn Shops Take a hard look at the picture posted below, last week. from the
AP in Mexico.)


ATF investigators traced the gun — along with seven others seized at a house in Sonora state on Monday — to suppliers in the United States, said Bill Newell, special agent in charge of the ATF in Arizona and New Mexico.
While crudely built, the truck-mounted rifle would give traffickers a powerful advantage against lightly armed police, Newell said: A gunman could protect a whole convoy with sweeping fire while protected by the metal shield.

"Imagine being a two- or three-man police team at a rural checkpoint and these guys roll up with this thing," Newell said. "You'd be slightly intimidated, wouldn't you?"

President Barack Obama says he will crack down on the smuggling of weapons easily purchased lawfully in the United States and then taken to Mexico, which has strict gun-control laws.
But Mexico's drug gangs are clearly digging in for this war, which has already claimed more than 10,670 lives since Calderon deployed 45,000 troops to confront the cartels at the beginning of his presidency in December 2006.
Even as the governments try to choke off the U.S. weapons supply, the gangs are clearly trying to expand their arsenals beyond the assault rifles and semi-automatics they can get in the United States.
These and other, much heavier weapons are readily available on the global black market, particularly from stockpiles left over from Central America's civil wars.
Civilians are increasingly being targeted. In October, assailants hurled a grenade at the U.S. consulate in the northern city of Monterrey. In January, a TV network's offices in the same city were attacked.
The grenades used in both attacks were similar to one thrown into a nightclub in Pharr, Texas, in January, according to the ATF. That one didn't explode.
The agency suspects they came from a Monterrey warehouse where the Gulf cartel had been stockpiling weapons, including South Korean-made K75 fragmentation grenades.

The cartels are still far from obtaining enough arms and training to overpower Mexico's military, which is much better weapons coordination, Meiners said.
On Wednesday, only hours before Obama's visit, 15 gunmen were killed but only one soldier died when a convoy of armed men fought with troops patrolling a drug trafficking hotbed in remote, mountainous Guerrero state.
But local police are outgunned and have left the battle to the military — showing how hard it will be to achieve what Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Obama agreed will be success — a drug war which local police can handle without military help. "We only have 20 police, and we cannot risk entering in operations against the narcos," said Santiago Bustos, the second-in-command of the police in San Nicolas del Oro, where Wednesday's shootout happened...". (end)


(posted last week April 14,2009 Deep Politics Forum)

Mexican detained with anti-aircraft machine gun

(notice the bore of this weapon its bigger than a .50 cal as well as the ammo... some in Mexico Intel said it was modified to fit larger ammo)

• AP – An anti air-craft machine gun, the first weapon of its kind seized in Mexico, is displayed to the media …
  

article Mexico AP April 14,2009

NEW INFORMATION AN UPDATE:
(04-20-09)

NEW UPDATE: (4-20-09)


This FORUM received this information and article last week with pictures, before the fact,..., from a Task Force Team operating inside Mexico.

This is not a rifle and did not come from a Gun show or a pawn shop..

Whats goin on here? The ATF is misleading the public on this weapon that was found in the Cartels hands. Why?

Mexican detained with anti-aircraft machine gun

(notice the bore of this weapon its bigger than a .50 cal as well as the ammo... some in Mexico Intel said it was modified to fit larger ammo)

note: ATF ID'ed this weapon as a "rifle"

• AP – An anti air-craft machine gun, the first weapon of its kind seized in Mexico, is displayed to the media …
  

article Mexico AP April 14,2009




Bill Newell, special agent in charge of the ATF in Arizona and New Mexico.
"...While crudely built, the truck-mounted rifle...".

Well to me this does not look like a 'rifle' This is a 50 cal fully automatic Deck Mount Browning fully automatic machine gun.

AND I do not think you can find one of these at a US Pawn Shop or a Gun Show.... and too, I think it would be very hard to sneak it across a border check point.

Why does the ATF,government agencies,as well as the media out right lie to us about these US Military weapons being found in the Cartels hands?

In fact there were three browning fully automatic machine guns found in this raid not to mention other high grade US Made military weapon and other equipment found that was not mentioned by ATF or the media....

(More to come on this very soon)

information obtained from a very sensitive source operating within a secret military Task Force operating inside Mexico.

[Tosh Plumlee]

NEW UPDATE: (4-20-09)

Note: Last week I posted the picture of the Anti Aircraft 50cal gun with over a thousand rounds of ammo, and the AP Mexico article. These weapons more than just the Gun were found from information obtain from the Joint Mexican American Task Force (TF-7) operating inside Mexico. The American public is being lied to by ATF and other agencies. Its still the same old inter-agency turf wars of old... Who gets the credit for the find and the intelligence gathering.

This FORUM received this information and article last week with pictures, before the fact,..., from a Task Force Team operating inside Mexico.

This is not a rifle and did not come from a Gun show or a pawn shop..

Whats goin on here? The ATF is misleading the public on this weapon that was found in the Cartels hands. Why?

NEW Article:

Mexican arms race: bigger guns for drug cartels

AP – Police remove weapons that were seized from suspected drug traffickers after presenting the weapons and …



By ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press Writer Alexandra Olson, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 20, 3:33 am ET

MEXICO CITY – An escalating arms race among Mexico's drug cartels casts doubt on whether Mexico or the U.S. can stop the flow of weaponry, despite renewed vows last week from presidents of both countries.

Stockpiles captured by Mexican soldiers show that warring traffickers are now obtaining military-grade weaponry such as grenades, launchers, machine guns, mortars and anti-tank rockets.


Some drug gangs have even sought explosive material that some experts worry could be used in car bombs and improvised explosive devices of the kind used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers found 14 sticks of TNT among an arsenal of hundreds of rifles and grenades seized in November from a house in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.

But so far, attempts at using bombs have been unsuccessful as drug gangs haven't yet developed the skills to build effective ones, said Stephen Meiners, a Latin America analyst with Stratfor, a private U.S.-based group. Authorities suspect the Sinaloa cartel tried to kill a Mexico City police officer last year with a homemade bomb that killed only the attacker.

"Once you have a bomb maker that has mastered that skill, unless that bomb maker is caught, he can keep constructing those devices and send them out to be deployed," he said.

One of the most worrisome weapons yet was seized this week just south of Nogales, Ariz.: a powerful gun mounted on the back of an SUV and protected by a thick metal shield. Police said it belonged to one of the Beltran Leyva drug gangs.
Mexican and U.S. authorities disagree on just what type of gun it was. Federal police coordinator Gen. Rodolfo Cruz maintains it was .50-caliber anti-air craft machine gun. ATF, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said it was an unmodified .50-caliber semiautomatic rifle made by TNW, a U.S. firearms manufacturer.

( NOTE: Look at the picture of the Gun posted here last week. (below) You can clearly see that this is not a rifle or a 50 cal gun...It was said my the Mexican Intel that its ben modified to use larger caliber ammo... ..you do not get these type of guns from Gun Shows or Pawn Shops Take a hard look at the picture posted below, last week. from the
AP in Mexico.)


ATF investigators traced the gun — along with seven others seized at a house in Sonora state on Monday — to suppliers in the United States, said Bill Newell, special agent in charge of the ATF in Arizona and New Mexico.
While crudely built, the truck-mounted rifle would give traffickers a powerful advantage against lightly armed police, Newell said: A gunman could protect a whole convoy with sweeping fire while protected by the metal shield.

"Imagine being a two- or three-man police team at a rural checkpoint and these guys roll up with this thing," Newell said. "You'd be slightly intimidated, wouldn't you?"

President Barack Obama says he will crack down on the smuggling of weapons easily purchased lawfully in the United States and then taken to Mexico, which has strict gun-control laws.
But Mexico's drug gangs are clearly digging in for this war, which has already claimed more than 10,670 lives since Calderon deployed 45,000 troops to confront the cartels at the beginning of his presidency in December 2006.
Even as the governments try to choke off the U.S. weapons supply, the gangs are clearly trying to expand their arsenals beyond the assault rifles and semi-automatics they can get in the United States.
These and other, much heavier weapons are readily available on the global black market, particularly from stockpiles left over from Central America's civil wars.
Civilians are increasingly being targeted. In October, assailants hurled a grenade at the U.S. consulate in the northern city of Monterrey. In January, a TV network's offices in the same city were attacked.
The grenades used in both attacks were similar to one thrown into a nightclub in Pharr, Texas, in January, according to the ATF. That one didn't explode.
The agency suspects they came from a Monterrey warehouse where the Gulf cartel had been stockpiling weapons, including South Korean-made K75 fragmentation grenades.

The cartels are still far from obtaining enough arms and training to overpower Mexico's military, which is much better weapons coordination, Meiners said.
On Wednesday, only hours before Obama's visit, 15 gunmen were killed but only one soldier died when a convoy of armed men fought with troops patrolling a drug trafficking hotbed in remote, mountainous Guerrero state.
But local police are outgunned and have left the battle to the military — showing how hard it will be to achieve what Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Obama agreed will be success — a drug war which local police can handle without military help. "We only have 20 police, and we cannot risk entering in operations against the narcos," said Santiago Bustos, the second-in-command of the police in San Nicolas del Oro, where Wednesday's shootout happened...". (end)


(posted last week April 14,2009 Deep Politics Forum)

Mexican detained with anti-aircraft machine gun

(notice the bore of this weapon its bigger than a .50 cal as well as the ammo... some in Mexico Intel said it was modified to fit larger ammo)

note: ATF ID'ed this weapon as a "rifle"

• AP – An anti air-craft machine gun, the first weapon of its kind seized in Mexico, is displayed to the media …
  

article Mexico AP April 14,2009




Bill Newell, special agent in charge of the ATF in Arizona and New Mexico.
"...While crudely built, the truck-mounted rifle...".

Well to me this does not look like a 'rifle' This is a 50 cal fully automatic Deck Mount Browning fully automatic machine gun.

AND I do not think you can find one of these at a US Pawn Shop or a Gun Show.... and too, I think it would be very hard to sneak it across a border check point.

Why does the ATF,government agencies,as well as the media out right lie to us about these US Military weapons being found in the Cartels hands?

In fact there were three browning fully automatic machine guns found in this raid not to mention other high grade US Made military weapon and other equipment found that was not mentioned by ATF or the media....

(More to come on this very soon)

information obtained from a very sensitive source operating within a secret military Task Force operating inside Mexico.

[David Guyatt]

My guess is that this weapon is a 20 mil - does that fit with what you've been told Tosh?

[Tosh Plumlee]

Up Date Mexican Drug War:

“…. check out video of an attempt to free financial head of the Beltran Leyva drug smuggling ring , occurred outside Tepic airport, 30 gunmen attacked the convoy taking bad guys to jail. 8 police officers died.
the vehicle carrying the drug cartel members was able to escape…”.

http://videos.eluniversal.com.mx/n_videos/showVideo.php?id=12063


These boys were attacked by very sophisticated weapons rumored to be US supplied to the Mexican Army via the United States Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) program. The weapons used in this attack were stolen from the Mexican Army’s arsenals by deserters of the army who helped start the “Zetas”, a gang associated with the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloia…”. It seems Mexico has a real problem keeping control of the Guns we ship them to help fight the drug war. Over 30% of the weapons shiped gets to the Cartels... a story the American media does not want to cover. Why?


(picture 'A real Rambo with a real gun...However, the American media and ATF says its only a rifle if its found in Mexico..., so they say)

[Tosh Plumlee]

My guess is that this weapon is a 20 mil - does that fit with what you've been told Tosh?

Yes David. I have been told it is a 20mm BUT also the 20mm is a rack load and not a belt fed machine gun... the 20mm has also been said by some to be a cannon... these (in the pic) were often used as "Deck Guns" and used for Anti-Aircraft on board ships. They were used in the Magon Delta of Nam on some of the Phaler boats I have been told.. (50 cal short barrel... 20mm rack and belt fed and 40mm but much larger. However, point being... its one hell of a gun and the cartel has a bunch of 'um' I have been told by very sensitive sources inside the Mexican Army Intel.

I do not think you can get one of these across the border in a pickup truck or buy one at a Pawn Shop or Gun show here in the US.. None-the -less... ATF and The Homeland Security are the 'Experts' on these maters. They know the difference between a rifle, a machine gun, or a cannon. We are in good hands... Perhaps I just need to let them do their job in protecting me.

[Tosh Plumlee]

Hey David... does anybody really read this stuff other than a select few? I was just wondering.

[David Guyatt]

Thanks Tosh. I once knew a guy who used to "play" with a 20mm in Afghanistan. Used to be connected to the so called "Buffalo guns" situation up there contracted by the French on behalf of you know who to teach the tribesmen to "reach out and touch" people and things.

They used to be Jeep mounted and were obtained from the black market I was told -- the old Hispano type that was the star of the RAF's WWII Spitfire fighter. I have also seen a picture of one stripped down and used as a shoulder weapon (honest to God!). I wouldn't like to be sitting behind that baby when you depressed the trigger.

Sure, lots of people read what you write, it's just that most don't have anything they can usefully add. Which is entirely understandable when you consider the subject matter, I think you'd agree.

But I really do appreciate it can feel lonely sometimes.

Been there. Done that. Journalistically speaking obviously. It's not always a bag of fun. Buy hey, if anyone said it was going to be easy we wouldn't have wanted to do it, right...

[Tosh Plumlee]

WILLIAMSON COUNTY

( ref;Tyler Texas and Austin Texas reports; Juarez UC operations TF7 MX)


Taylor cocaine sting nets 12

DEA says it's been investigating 'wholesaler,' others for years.

By Miguel Liscano
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Authorities say Benito Saucedo Hernandez was moving up to 20 pounds of cocaine a month through Taylor for at least two years.
He'd buy the narcotic along the Mexican border, transport it in vehicles to Williamson County and sell it to local distributors, authorities said. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Greg Thrash said law enforcement officials had known of Hernandez's organization for several years, but Hernandez was skilled in surveillance and flew under the radar.
That is, until Monday, when authorities caught up with him.
"They all finally raise their head, and their head gets caught in the net," Thrash said.
By Monday, federal and local law enforcement authorities had arrested Hernandez and 11 others in Taylor and Elgin. Eight of them, including Hernandez, were arrested Monday when officials simultaneously executed four narcotics search warrants.
Officials also seized two guns, about a half a kilogram, or about a pound, of cocaine and approximately $20,000 during the searches, Thrash said.
The arrests came after more than two years of investigation into cocaine distribution in the Taylor area, Thrash said.
He said Hernandez was the leader and others arrested were either buying cocaine from him or helping him sell it.
"He was essentially a wholesaler," Thrash said. "The Benito Hernandez organization was quite significant. And it's extremely significant in a smaller town such as Taylor."
Thrash did not have a dollar estimate of how much money officials think Hernandez was making.
Hernandez and eight others were indicted in federal court April 7 on charges of conspiracy to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, according to court documents. The first charge is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison; the second charge is punishable by up to 20 years. Officials did not release the names of those who are indicted but not in custody.
In addition to Hernandez, the following people face federal charges: Arturo Garcia, 34, of Taylor; Pauline Gamboa, 34, of Leander; Gabriel Anthony Ross, 28, of Taylor; Ivan Navaro Almazon, 25, of Elgin; Willson Chealiang Ng, 37, of Austin; Slade Leighton Brockman, 28, of Granger; and Higinio Almazan, 26, of Elgin.
Also, Carmene Dominguez, 42, and Javri Euan, 17, both of Taylor, and Mario Almazan of Elgin were charged with possession of cocaine, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Eduardo Garcia, 19, of Taylor was charged with possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail.
Officials said more arrests are expected in the case.

(... more to come shortly from Mexico City and a Army Intel unit...)

...... did you guys catch this...? ... now be fair in your field reports... how did he know this? ... we're all on the same team. Right? ... did'nt mean to jump your release... are we having fun yet? :fisheye: