MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon – Government officials in the Mexican border state of Nuevo Leon announced a new series of operations aimed at curving an expected spike in highway robberies targeting commercial vehicles and possible looting. The expected crime wave comes at a time when highway travel has greatly diminished following the arrival of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Mexico.

In a series of public statements, Nuevo Leon’s Secretary of State Manuel Florentino Gonzalez Flores said he would order an increase of patrolling along the various highways in his state as well as in the major warehouses used by supermarkets and grocery stores. The move is seen as an attempt to avoid any looting and robberies as the pandemic continues.

In recent weeks Nuevo Leon has been rocked by the growing number of COVID-19 cases climbing to the fifth spot out of 32 states in the nation with 88 confirmed patients. The lax response from the federal government led to some tension with Nuevo Leon, where government officials had been asking for stricter measures for some time.

According to Victor Manuel Presichi Amador, the president of the National Association of Tracking and Monitoring Companies (ANERPV), criminal organizations could be responsible for up to a 50 percent increase in the theft of food, medicine, and essential items to supply the growing demand in the black market. In recent days, ANERPV shared its information with authorities at the federal and local levels to help create strategies to slow down highway robberies targeting commercial vehicles. Currently, the hotpots nationwide for highway robberies and violent carjackings are the states of Puebla, Guanajuato, Veracruz, and San Luis Potosi, regions dominated by Los Zetas, Cartel Jalisco New Generation, and Cartel Santa Rosa de Lima.

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