On Tuesday, near Fronton, Texas, U.S. Border Patrol Agents were on the alert when they found a duffel bag filled with lethal weapons. According to the Reuters news agency, six assault rifles, grenade and rocket launchers, C-4 explosives and magazines of ammunition were inside the sack located close to the Mexican border.
It is believed the weapons were going to be smuggled across the border, specifically to a Mexican drug gang. Drug cartels use weapons to engage in battle against rival gangs and law enforcement officers. Such drug wars have accounted for 42,000 fatalities in the last five years.
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The Zetas and the Gulf cartel are examples of rival gangs at war. In April of this year, secret graves containing 183 corpses were found in Tamaulipas near the U.S. border. It is alleged that the murders were carried out by the Zetas against their adversaries.
In June, one of many shootouts took place near the Texas-Mexico border. This particular incident, in Mission, TX, was between U.S. Border Patrol, as well as the Texas Rangers and U.S. Parks and Wildlife, and Mexican drug runners, three of whom were wounded.
Almost a year ago, while David Hartley and his wife Tiffany were jet-skiing on Falcon Lake, a body of water that stretches across Texas and Mexico territory, Hartley was shot in the head, leaving his wife to swim away for her life. It was determined that a low-rank member of the Zetas thought he was a spy from another cartel and thus killed him. To dissuade Mexican authorities from investigating the murder further, high-ups in the Zeta gang delivered the Mexican lead investigator’s (Rolando Armando Flores Villegas) head in a suitcase to the military headquarters – their way of saying “back off.”
After this year’s incident in June, U.S. Senator for Texas, John Cornyn, stated, “Despite the repeated assurances of President Obama and Secretary Napolitano that our border is secure, today’s brazen attack on law enforcement provides further evidence for what Texans already know.”
You could help improve the safety of the U.S.-Mexico border by pursuing a homeland security career as a border patrol agent. By completing a Bachelors degree in Homeland Security, Criminal Justice or Law Enforcement, you can apply to work for the U.S. Customs & Border Patrol Agency and do your part to prevent innocent civilians from falling victim to violent drug wars.