United States Land Seized By Mexican Gangs?

Diggers Realm reported earlier today that two ranches inside our border, and just across the border from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico has been seized by Los Zetas, a highly trained group of killers in Mexico. None of this is confirmed tho and some of the information coming in appears to contradict the claims that land in our country has been seized by Mexican gangs. First, Diggers report:

The situation has become different in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico over the last few days. There have been gun-battles through the streets and fragmentation grenades used as the government of Mexico tries to run the Los Zetas out of their stronghold there. People died and were wounded. The city was on lockdown and the US government issued warnings to US citizens in the area to remain indoors. With our lack of border security and porous borders, it is not beneath my intellect to believe that the Los Zetas could be forced into a retreat into US territory and attempt to seize a hideout.

Not only that, but “first contact” with me of the initial story was from none other than Jeff Schwilk, founder of the San Diego Minutemen, who had a confirmed source in the area of Laredo. With this in mind I decided to go with the story, but to remain cautious. I clearly stated on the story that it was not 100% confirmed. It remained that way all night.

I put out my feelers throughout the night to try and collect information and other credible sources to confirm the occupation of ranches in Laredo. I did not receive actual confirmation until this morning when I got word that Kimberly Dvorak of the Examiner had made multiple confirmations within the Laredo Police Department. Up until this point the story had not spread wide. There was no reason for the Laredo Police Department to crack down hard and keep things truly blacked out as there was no heavy interest from media.

However, upon that second confirmation and her running her story “Los Zetas drug cartel seizes 2 U.S. ranches in Texas” the story to me at that point was 100% confirmed. I changed my story to reflect that and released it to the world – spreading it wide. It has since gone viral.

Confederate Yankee spoke to the Laredo police however and received conflicting news:

Twitter exploded a while ago about this story, which claims that heavily-armed Los Zetas gunmen of the Gulf Cartel have taken over ranches on the U.S. side of the border.

My curiosity got the better of me, and so I called the Laredo Police Department, and had a delightful chat with the acting watch commander, Sgt. Perez.
Sgt. Perez informed me that I was her seventh caller about this claim since she came on duty this afternoon. She stipulated two things that blows holes in the invasion claim.

• The location of the alleged invasion is outside of their city-limits jurisdiction, so they would not be involved, and;
• while they would not be involved in any law enforcement response outside of their jurisdiction, they work closely with the county sheriff’s office and would know if such an event is occurring.

She also provided me the number of the Sheriff’s Department. The deputy that answered the phone there was less bemused, having also dealt with this rumor multiple times in a short amount of time. She also told me that there was no invasion and no law enforcement siege, and that deputies were continuing normal operations.

Granted, Los Zetas has moved into the town of Nuevo Laredo en masse, and if they are fighting a battle with the government they may be run out and take refuge across the border. While stupid, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities. But I’m skeptical that they have seized some ranches and are holding them.

For now.

UPDATE

According to this site:

The approximate location of the U.S. ranches are 10 miles northwest of I-35 off Mines Road and Minerales Annex Road. Just off 1472 (Mines road) near Santa Isabel Creek south of the city of Laredo, Texas.

UPDATE

One other thought, being in law enforcement myself I know what the Watch Commander of the Laredo police said is quite true. If there was this massive an incident there would be a mutual aid request made for other law enforcement agencies to help. This is done routinely in big situations.

Digger believes there is a media blackout but I have a tough time believing any agency would believe a blackout would hold with this kind of incident. Doesn’t mean some ignorant supervisors wouldn’t do it…but its a stretch.

Still remaining skeptical.

UPDATE

Could be from this:

The FBI is advising law enforcement officers across the country that a Texas cell of Los Zetas — an increasingly powerful arm of the Mexican Gulf Cartel drug trafficking syndicate — has acquired a secluded ranch where it trains its members to “neutralize” competitors in the United States.

In order to ensure its share of the lucrative illegal drug trade, the cartel’s members reportedly are operating north of the border to collect debts and spy on competitors. They have also protected cocaine and heroin shipments that were bound for Houston, where they were repackaged and shipped on to Alabama, Delaware, Georgia and Michigan, according to the FBI.

The information, which was disseminated Monday to state, local and federal agencies, does not provide specifics, such as the location of the ranch, but includes a notation that the information came from reliable FBI contacts.

Curt

See author page