MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon — Authorities are noticing a new trend among Mexican border states where cartels are getting chemicals to their stash houses and then cooking methamphetamine in closer proximity to the United States.
A Mexican drug enforcement investigator who asked to remain anonymous revealed to Breitbart Texas that in the last 10 months, they spotted a change in tactics by cartels choosing to “cook” in border cities instead of their traditional production areas further south.
The new tactic now has the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas and possibly the Gulf Cartel competing with the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion for the crystal meth market.
Last month, Mexican Federal Police officers in Nuevo Leon raided a warehouse in the Monterrey suburb of Santa Catarina where they seized 4,000 gallons of methamphetamine precursors. The raid took place on Luis Donaldo Colosio Boulevard. The chemicals seized included hydrochloric acid and benzyl chloride.
Soon after, in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, the Mexican Army raided a car repair shop that was being used as a front for a laboratory by the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas. Inside, authorities found close to 300 pounds of chemical materials used to produce narcotics. The raid at the cartel lab was part of an operation, as Breitbart Texas reported, where military forces seized a large arsenal of weapons including sticks of dynamite, RPGs, grenades, and other items.
Authorities also noted the seizure of a tractor-trailer moving close to 13 tons of phenylacetic acid in the town of Garcia. Breitbart Texas reported on the seizure in August.
“We believe that the dominant cartels in Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas are taking advantage of the growing demand for synthetic drugs in the United States,” the Mexican law enforcement source revealed. “While it is not something that is usually revealed in an official manner, these drugs are very difficult to find, so anonymous calls and cartel members flipping on their bosses have been the best source in tracking these shipments down.”
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Nuevo León.
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