MONTERREY, Nuevo León — The arrest of a Texas teen tied to a carjacking in this city helped uncover a network of criminals stealing vehicles at gunpoint throughout Nuevo Leon, under orders from the Gulf Cartel in Tamaulipas.

Recently, agents with the Nuevo Leon State Investigations Agency (AEI) arrested 17-year-old Ivan Abisail Valdez driving a stolen vehicle in Cadereyta, along the highway that connects Monterrey with Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Valdez was identified as a U.S. citizen from Brownsville, Texas. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by law enforcement sources in Nuevo Leon, Valdez and other gunmen held a family at gunpoint near the Sun Mall shopping center in Guadalupe for their Mazda CX-3.

Upon getting the alert of the robbery, the AEI carried out a search operation to track the stolen vehicle and caught up with Valdez in Cadereyta, where they arrested him and seized the vehicle. Authorities learned Valdez was part of a gang of car thieves loyal to Gulf Cartel leaders in Reynosa.

The group would get a list of luxury vehicles requested by Gulf Cartel members in Reynosa, steal them, and transport the hot autos to Tamaulipas where they would be paid $800 USD each. Valdez told agents he would be paid for the vehicles–but did not say the amount. The special order cars were not for gun battles, but the personal use of cartel leaders and their families, law enforcement sources revealed. Authorities continue to investigate if more Texans are part of the carjacking group.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican 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 Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Nuevo León.