A cell of gunmen believed to be tied either to Cartel Jalisco New Generation or Carteles Unidos has been trying to set up their operation in the border city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, just south of Eagle Pass. By the time authorities got wind of the operation, the cartel members had already been setting up stash houses, a network of lookouts, and even weapons caches.
The issue began earlier this month, when authorities in Coahuila got wind that gunmen from the Mexican state of Michoacan had been setting up in the city.
Investigators with the Coahuila State Attorney General’s Office began looking into the case and, late last week, began carrying out several raids. In the initial raid, they arrested five gunmen and seized several weapons. In the days that followed, authorities have been able to arrest several other individuals tied to the organization. Law enforcement sources confirmed to Breitbart Texas that they are actively searching for the remaining members of the group, which would have consisted of at least two dozen or more individuals.
The presence of cartel gunmen has caused concern in Coahuila since it was just ten years ago that state police forces had managed to push out Los Zetas. That cartel operated with complete impunity for years in the region. Breitbart Texas reported extensively at the time on how state forces had cracked down on Los Zetas and how, years later, they had tried various incursions in an attempt to take over the region once again. In one of the cases, Los Zetas (going by the name Cartel Del Noreste) sent 120 gunmen in various SUVs to attack locals in the town of Villa Union, Coahuila. State police forces managed to fight off the gunmen after a series of long shootouts. The governor at the time labelled the attack as an act of terror, Breitbart Texas reported.
As part of the ongoing investigation into which criminal organization the new cell belongs to, law enforcement sources in Coahuila revealed to Breitbart Texas that they have been able to rule out CDN-Los Zetas and are trying to see which drug cartel the gunmen from Michoacan belong to.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart News Foundation traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León 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 News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and their original Spanish. This article was written by “J.M. Martinez” from Coahuila.
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