Nuevo Leon state police officers responding to an apparent kidnapping engaged in a fierce shootout with local cops in the process of extorting a human smuggling operation. The entire municipal police force in question is now under investigation for possible organized crime links.
The incident took place Thursday evening when a top state official was at his ranch near Presa de La Boca with his security detail, comprised of state police in armored vehicles. According to law enforcement sources, a man ran toward the officers for help. He claimed he managed to escape a kidnapping nearby but his friends were still in trouble.
The victim described a white van as the suspect vehicle. The security detail alerted other state officers and responded to the scene, quickly spotting a white van. As state officers came close, they began taking gunfire. The victims were a group of migrants being moved to the Texas border when they were stopped at gunpoint by rogue cops.
Law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that the gunfire came from a large detail of Juarez municipal police who supposedly mistook the state officers in unmarked armored vehicles for cartel gunmen. The state officers fought off the attack, sending some local cops running into a brushy area while several managed to escape in one of their police vehicles.
Authorities initiated a manhunt and arrested a female Juarez police officer identified as 29-year-old Blanca Zuniga Villarreal. At the time, the woman was wearing her police uniform.
Hours later, authorities arrested a second officer identified as Eric Daniel Abadilla. Nuevo Leon officials are now carrying out a full investigation into the Juarez Police Department.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. 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 Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Tony Aranda from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report
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