Los Zetas Cartel Hid Body Armor, Weapons near Texas Border

Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas and Coahuila 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 Coahuila’s “JM Martinez.”

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Coahuila — Mexican authorities seized police body armor and weapons that members of the Los Zetas Cartel had hidden in the brush near the Texas border.

Some of the vests seized had patches and logos that are the same as those used by state police forces. The seizure took place this week after members of the state police force known as Fuerza Coahuila carried out an intelligence based operation in the area known as Sierra de Acuña. The stash is located immediately south of the area between Big Bend National Park and Del Rio, Texas.

As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the mountainous terrain has been used by drug cartels to move large quantities of drugs undetected from Coahuila across the border into Texas. The area has a small number of U.S Border Patrol agents that are assigned to cover vast distances of land, with minimal technical support in the way of cameras, sensors, and drones.  Recently authorities found two separate landing strips used by cartel members to move large drug shipments by air into the desolate region. Smugglers then move the drugs north into Texas.

During a recent operation by Fuerza Coahuila, police officers followed up on investigation leads near the area known as Colorado Canyon. While driving down a dirt road police forces spotted numerous tire tracks that veered off the road in an unusual manner. Police officers got off their vehicles and began to  search the area on foot. Hidden between some brush, authorities discovered a bundle that contained the body armor, weapons, and ammunition.

The bundle contained nine bullet resistant vests with “State Police” patches and insignia. authorities also found a Sig Sauer 556 pistol, a 9mm handgun, and 16 ammunition magazines commonly used with AK-47 rifles.