Border securityCarjackings, violence to increase in wake of Mexico prison break
Close to 200 drug dealers, murderers, and human traffickers broke out of a Nuevo Laredo prison — probably with the help of guards who were bribed or threatened; members of the Zetas were behind the prison break, and they are expanding their influence in cities close to the U.S. border; intelligence analysts say that the breakout means that we should expect more violence in cities within the Zetas-dominated areas
Video capture of inmates walking out of Mexican prison // Source: nationalturk.com
An intelligence analyst says there is a greater chance right now you could become a victim of a carjacking in Mexico. A former drug enforcement agency supervisor said the prison break in Nuevo Laredo is the reason why the threat of carjackings will go up.
It happened overnight. Close to 200 drug dealers, murderers, and human traffickers broke out of a Nuevo Laredo prison.
“The Zetas were the ones that orchestrated their breakout to increase their number,” says Gary Hale.
Hale is a former drug enforcement agency intelligence supervisor in the Houston field office. He now runs his own intelligence firm. He says the prison breakout means more violence against people traveling to Mexico.
“I expect there’s going to be an increase in carjackings, blockades where they steal cars from innocent people whether they’re Mexican or American,” says Hale.
KRGV.com Texas reports that Hale and his team built a map to show the four cities in Mexico that are fifty miles from the border where Zetas have recently carjacked people. He says it could happen in every Mexican state that borders the United States. The Zetas operate in all of them.
Hale says the Zetas have done prison breakouts before. He says the sheriff in Laredo had intelligence about the most recent breakout a few months ago. He passed it on to Mexican investigators.
“It could be the intelligence got stale, it wasn’t corroborated or it didn’t get to the proper authorities,” Hale says.
He says more carjackings could mean the death of more innocent people - Mexican and American.
Hale analyzed the Zetas in a new report he released this past weekend. He says the Zetas are expanding in Mexico. They are now in Sonora, across the border from Arizona. He says the Mexican government is still arresting Zeta operatives. Last week, a Zeta recruiter trying to enlist teenagers was arrested in Monterrey.
