A renegade band of Mexican military deserters is operating in the US to protect drugs shipped by Mexican smugglers, offering US$50,000-dollar bounties for the assassination of US law-enforcement officers, the Washington Times reported yesterday.
anti-drug commandos
The newspaper reported that the deserters, known as the "Zetas," were originally trained in the US as an elite force of anti-drug commandos.
But they have since switched sides and signed on as mercenaries for Mexican narcotics traffickers, according to the report. Many of them are now believed to be operating in Texas, Arizona, California and Florida.
Working mainly for the Gulf Cartel, as many as 200 "Zeta" members are suspected in more than 90 deaths of rival gang members and others, including police officers, in the past two years, the Times reported.
The organization's hub is Nuevo Laredo, a border city of 300,000 across from Laredo, Texas.
It is the most active port-of-entry along the US-Mexico border, with more than 6,000 trucks crossing daily into Texas, carrying about 40 percent of Mexico's total exports.
The paper said the "Zetas" control the city despite efforts by Mexican President Vicente Fox to restore order.
Authorities said the Zetas operate over a wide area of the US-Mexico border and are suspected in at least three drug-related slayings in the Dallas area, according to the report.
They said as many as 10 "Zeta" members are operating inside Texas as Gulf Cartel assassins, seeking to protect nearly 10 million in daily drug transactions.
Last month, the Justice department issued a new warning to law-enforcement authorities in Arizona and California, urging them to be on the lookout for "Zeta" members, the paper said.
military-style
The number of assaults on US Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector of the US-Mexico border has increased dramatically this year, including a May 30 shooting near Nogales, Arizona, in which two agents were seriously wounded during an ambush 2km north of the border, the Times said.
Their assailants were dressed in black commando-type clothing, used high-powered weapons and hand-held radios to point out the agents' location, and withdrew from the area using military-style cover and concealment tactics.
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