REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — The violent drug cartel operating in this border city managed to add landmines to their growing arsenal as they wage large-scale battles in a near daily fashion. The explosive devices, known as Claymore mines, were seized by the Mexican military during a recent operation.

For months, rival factions of the Gulf Cartel have fought for control of lucrative human smuggling and drug trafficking routes into Texas, Breitbart Texas reported. The violence forced federal and state authorities to deploy thousands of Mexican soldiers, Marines, and police officers to the border region to quell the bloodshed.

During a series of raids by the Mexican Army, soldiers focused on search operations in rural areas near the Rio Grande. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Mexican Army, soldiers were able to find a series of weapons caches that had been buried–leading to the arrests of three suspects.

Soldiers unearthed two Claymores, a grenade launcher, two Barrett .50 caliber rifles, 17 AK-47 rifles, ballistic plates, ammunition, and magazines.

While the Gulf Cartel and other Mexican criminal organizations have used grenades and Russian-made RPGs in the past, this appears to be an early case of U.S. military-grade landmines near the border.



Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.

Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.