Hundreds Of Armored Drug Cartel Vehicles Seized Near US-Mexico Border

Mexican police near the U.S. border seized 257 armored vehicles from cartels in the last four years, according to Border Report.

Some of the vehicles resembled military tanks and machine gun ports, Border Report reported Tuesday, citing a statement from the Tamaulipas attorney general’s office. Authorities destroyed some of the vehicles at government impound lots.

The destroyed vehicles resembled semi-trucks, tow trucks and ordinary pickups with steel panels welded to their exteriors, according to Border Report.

“The modifications applied to these vehicles represent a danger to the safety of law enforcement agencies and the community in general,” the Mexican state Attorney General’s Office said in a statement, according to Border Report.

There were 23 vehicles, also known as “monsters,” from the Gulf cartel, Zetas and Northeast cartel that were destroyed by cranes and blow torches in the most recent operation carried out by the state police, according to Border Report.

The state police’s Special Operations Group (GOPES) confiscated the vehicles while assigned to areas known for drug trafficking and cartel violence, according to Border Report.

On March 12, Mexican police seized some of the vehicles after they were abandoned near the San Fernando-Reynosa highway. They also seized 14 vehicles, four of which were armored, allegedly used for a crime in a Reynosa body shop when arresting a man on homicide charges a month before.