US – Mexico Joint effort targets border crime

On 02.19.10, In Border News, ICE & CBP, By PMC

In the 1990s, the Border Patrol worked closely with Grupo Beta, an elite Mexican police unit. After a promising start, the unit faltered under allegations of wrongdoing and functions today as an unarmed humanitarian agency.

In a politically sensitive operation at the Arizona- Mexico border, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Mexican federal police officers are training together, sharing intelligence and coordinating patrols for the first time.

The goal of the historic partnership: a systematic joint attack on northbound flows of drugs and migrants, and southbound shipments of guns and cash. It is part of a major, unannounced crackdown started in recent months involving hundreds of U.S. and Mexican officers in the border’s busiest smuggling corridor.

The initiative appears likely to expand. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Mexican Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna will sign a declaration Thursday in Mexico City agreeing to replicate the experiment. Eventually, officials say, joint operations borderwide could lead to the creation of a Mexican force serving as a counterpart to the Border Patrol — an agency once regarded with nationalistic aversion in Mexico.
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Along the Border – Immeasurable fear overrules reality

On 01.31.10, In Fear Factor, The Border, By PMC

MATAMOROS — Violence in this border city, residents say, is often left unreported by authorities yet exaggerated when caught on tape by the media, making it difficult to measure.

But if there is some certainty in the muddle of misinformation, many say it is this: Fear is ravaging the public perception of Matamoros. People no longer cross as frequently into the Mexican border city as they did in the past, and its retail businesses and restaurants are hurting.

“It is not to say that there have not been dangerous incidents, but we can say the same for this side of the border,” said Susan Ritter, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College. “These things (crimes and violent acts) get reported on and repeated and exaggerated, and on and on they go until everybody thinks it is gospel.”

Regardless of the case and regardless of where it occurs, Ritter says, “Generally, the fear is larger than the crime.”
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Arturo Beltran Leyva, Cartel “Boss of Bosses”, killed by Mexican Navy

On 12.18.09, In Narco Wars, By PMC
A Navy Marine stands next to the body of Arturo Beltran Leyva in this AP/El Universal photo

A Navy Marine stands next to the body of Arturo Beltran Leyva in this AP/El Universal photo

MEXICO CITY — Mexican troops acting on information from U.S. officials took out drug kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva in an assault that provided a rare victory for President Felipe Calderon but left a power vacuum that could lead to more violence.

In a carefully executed attack, heavily armed Mexican marines quietly evacuated an upscale apartment complex in Cuernavaca Wednesday before some 200 troops stormed the building and demanded the surrender of Beltran Leyva, one of the world’s most brutal drug lords.

Gunmen fired on the marines who then launched an attack that lasted nearly two hours.

Nicknamed the “boss of bosses,” Beltran Leyva is the biggest drug lord to be taken down in Calderon’s drug war, which is ending its bloodiest year yet. His absence is expected to shake up Mexico’s narcotics trafficking networks eager to take over his billion-dollar business, as well as set off an internal struggle within his gang, said Mexico’s Attorney General Arturo Chavez.
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Immigration Debate: Border Fence Provision Cut From Bill

On 10.17.09, In Border News, By PMC

The border wall along the US Mexico border. America's shame and an insult to our neighbors to the south

The border wall along the US Mexico border. America's shame and an insult to our neighbors to the south

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, says a provision to build more fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border was cut out of a federal spending bill.

The Houston Chronicle reported Thursday the provision, which would have added 300 miles to current border fencing, is no longer part of a $42.8 billion spending bill for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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Canadian Truck Driver Arrested with $3 Million in Cocaine at Pacific Highway Crossing

On 10.17.09, In ICE & CBP, Smugglers Brew, By PMC

US-Canada border crossing at Blaine Washington

US-Canada border crossing at Blaine Washington

Blaine, Wash. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a 43-year-old Surrey, British Columbia, man on October 10 for allegedly attempting to export 192 pounds of cocaine, worth more than $3 million.

Sukhvinder Shoker, a Canadian citizen,(one of those that wears a diaper on his head) was originally en route to Canada driving a commercial shipment of household goods when he was encountered by CBP officers of the Blaine Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team working in concert with agents of the Border Enforcement Security Task Force at the Pacific Highway port of entry. A narcotic detector dog named “Mac” was used to search the truck and trailer and gave a positive alert to the presence of a narcotic odor.

During a detailed inspection of the trailer officers discovered a secret compartment concealing 24 cardboard boxes which contained a total of 76 bricks of an unknown substance which field tested positive for cocaine.
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