Shocking video shows a group of black-clad, gun-toting men – believed to be Mexican drug cartel operatives – patrolling a Texas island just across the US-Mexico border.
At least 10 people were seen stalking through the Fronton Island forest on Saturday, according to drone footage issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The crude image shows a man wearing a backwards hat and a backpack carrying a weapon, while a man behind him is wearing full tactical gear.
The incident comes two weeks after another video showed rival cartel operatives throwing explosives at each other across the border.
Locally the island is known as a very dangerous place as it is used by warring cartels to store contraband.
“It’s an island of death,” Jaeson Jones, a retired captain in the Intelligence Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the Daily Mail.
“It’s dangerous, man.”
Fronton Island, located in the Rio Grande and claimed as a US territory, has been used by the Gulf Cartel and the Northeast Cartel to smuggle drugs, weapons and human traffickers into the country.
Rival cartels often engage in shooting matches over the loot they keep in the bush and in the bush.
At least 10 drug cartel members dressed in dark clothing were seen passing through Fronton Island on Saturday. Texas DPS Just a few weeks earlier, the Texas Department of Public Safety released a video of cartel members firing explosives. Texas DPS Some of the cartel members carry guns as they walk the Texas island.Texas DPS
Every night, according to Jones, hundreds of immigrants cross the island to enter the United States – which drug cartels use for their profit, sending their undercover foot soldiers to mix with the people.
In an effort to secure the border and prevent further violence, Texas officials declared the island state territory in September.
It’s technically already within Texas state borders, but Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said her office found it necessary to declare it state-owned to allow law enforcement to operate in the area.
He added that requests for Texas to seize the land have been in place for nearly a decade.
Fronton Island, located in the Rio Grande, has been used in recent years by the rival drug cartels Gulf Cartel and Cartel del Noreste to smuggle drugs, weapons and cross-border immigrants into the United States. Texas DPS Grainy’s image shows a man in a backwards hat and a backpack carrying a weapon, while a man behind him is wearing full tactical gear. Texas DPS
“This is Texas land, it’s been Texas land,” Buckingham told News 4 San Antonio. “But now that it’s officially claimed, law enforcement can gain access to the property.”
Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Victor Escalon explained the state was forced to act because the federal government “can’t cover all these areas and provide the safety and security of landowners.”
“You have people here saying, ‘Hey man, I’m out feeding my cows and I see three guys come across with backpacks and they’re armed. Why do I have to live like that?’”
Since declaring the island territory, Department of Public Security personnel have moved into the area and cleared much of the vegetation so they can better monitor cartel activity in the area.
Texas officials declared the territory an island nation in September to allow law enforcement to move into the area.Texas Military Dept.
However, so far the department is still frequently dealing with cartel members on the island.
“We have found armed armed men, cartel members who came across in Fronton, we have found ammunition,” said Lt. Chris Olivarez.
Some local officials are even beginning to doubt whether efforts to take over the island will really make a difference in the fight against the cartels.
“[The cartels] can still move any commodity north or south,” said Mike Salinas, a recently retired Border Patrol agent who served for 30 years.
“It will be a speed bump for them. They have the resources, the money and the time” to go through with it.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
