By Michael Webster: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. May 17, 2010 at 4:30 PM PDT
1st part in a multiple part series.
 

Americans on the American side of the U.S. Mexican border are in much danger today from newly trained Mexican drug traffickers, who according to the highest level of the Mexican military reveals that Mexican Drug Cartels (MDC’s) are currently training Mexican smugglers in the art of military tactic’s. These trainees often referred to by many as coyotes are very important to the drug trade. These coyotes are believed to be responsible for the tons of illegal drugs being clandestinely smuggled into the United States from Mexico on a daily bases. As a result of this new level of training it is putting many average Americans in crave danger and right here at home.

A high ranking Mexican Army commander who insists on remaining anonymous has told the U.S. Border Fire Report that Mexican coyotes are now being trained by the Mexican Drug Cartel known as the Los Zetas and are operating in the deserts of Arizona. These highly trained former Mexican Army solders who themselves went through some of the best and latest U.S. Army training at the American tax payers expense now are passing this training onto the front line drug smugglers that guide these drug loads and human beings into the states mainly through our southern border with Mexico. They’re known as “Los Zetas
 
 See video’s at: http://www.secureborderintel.org/TusconSector-armedescorts.html 

This new breed of coyote now operate as a fine tuned military unit. I was able to make contact and talk with one of these new Zetas coyote smugglers. The deal was, if I would agree to not take any photo’s or know his real name he would talk with me.
So I’ll call him Juan. Juan told me that he had been guiding people into the USA for years and said he made a  good living for him and his family of 7 kids and a wife. He said he was approached a couple of years ago by a Los Zetas officer who offered him military training and lots more money. Juan said that he picked 5 of his best workers who over the years had help him with his guiding business and they all went to a Zetas’s camp for 9 weeks of training. He says ” that he now makes much more money” he went on to say with this new training and man power he’s able to bring many more people and loads of drugs into the US via the U.S. Mexican border. He said that where he once was paid 100 U.S. dollars per person  (Illegal Alien) and 500 per pack mule (drug carrier) He now makes much more than that.

He confided that he and many others now as Los Zetas’s operatives run five (5) man armed squads who lead both people who want to come to America and drug smuggling mules across the Arizona desert. ” One of the members of his team runs point, two or more on each side of the group when possible or otherwise imbedded within the middle range of the group. Another brings up the rear as a tail gunner each carrying an AK 47 and the tail gunner packing a M-60 machine gun and or a 12 gouge riot shot gun. The groups range in size from 4 or five to a hundred or more per trip.
 
He, told me “that the weapons are used to guarantee the success of the operation”. He said “there are many dangers I and my men can face in route, me and my men have used our weapons to protect the group against Rattle Snakes and even Bear attacks” 06/08/09 - 10 second video – bear on trail.  But later he admitted that the main reason for having the weapons is to protect the drugs, mainly from competing drug gangs who from time to time they encounter. According to him many of the roaming gangs are looking for a fast and easy load of drugs, But also there are competing drug cartel gangs who are also trained and will try to take our loads and who want to operate on our turf. “But now we are much better prepared to deal with this and other threats that we may have to face on every trip.” I asked, if and when he encounters American law enforcement would he and his men fire their weapons at them? He told me that that was not likely to happen because the routes he uses are not paroled by American authorities. He claims that this is possible because some high U.S. Government people is paid by the Zetas to not be in the area at certain times during his operations. He said ” we take additional precautions to prevent that from happening”. “We post our own people all along the route to I 8 and near the transfer points on the highway mile markers. We place our spotters on high ground and fly ultralight aircraft, both have communication equipment, radio’s and through away cell phones. They are paid to watch for authorities and intruders, such as gangs, dangerous animals, American tourist, hikers, campers and all others who may be in the area.”
 
Arizona estimates that there are up to million tourist known as snow birds who migrate to Arizona to winter each year, spending upwards of billion dollars. Many of those snow birds camp, play and recreate on and near the dangerous U.S. Mexican Border in southern Arizona. Just like birds flying south for the winter, human residents of cold climates desire to escape the cold climates for a life of leisure. Most are unaware of the many dangers that the Mexican smugglers pose to there safety. There are signs posted on much of the Government lands warning visitors to the dangers that they my face if encountered by these dangerous smugglers.  Juan, told me he is retiring, that he has made a lot of money in the last couple of years and he is going to leave his business to one of his younger associate operative from which he expects to receive payments from him for years to come. Juan is moving his family to Colorado to live the American dream.
  

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) considers Los Zetas to be the most dangerous drug-trafficking organization in Mexico. Its members earned a reputation as super-gangsters adept at paramilitary-style ambushes and bold jailbreaks.
On the Texas-Mexico border, the Zetas are mythic, their crimes chronicled in the media and memorialized in narco-ballads.
They are the most feared, most emulated criminals in Mexico.
“They are a formidable criminal organization,” says Anthony Placido, the DEA’s chief of intelligence. “They’re heavily armed with .50-caliber sniper rifles and heavy and light military-grade ordnance.”
“They are every bit as ferocious and as capable as a military force as some of the rumors believe them to be,” Placido says.

Originally, there were 31 Zetas — elite army counter-narcotics commandos who defected to work as enforcers for the Gulf Cartel. The name came from their radio code, the letter Z.
But after the 2003 arrest of Gulf crime boss Osiel Cardenas, “the lion wised up and now controls the handler,” as one observer put it.
The Zetas have morphed into their own cartel. Their zone of influence ranges from the lower Texas border, south along the Atlantic and Caribbean coastal states of Mexico, through Chiapas and all the way into Guatemala, where they trans-ship South American cocaine to Mexico.
But their base remains the charmless industrial border cities in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas, is the most important trade border crossing in Latin America — and it is Zeta territory.

From 2004 to 2007, the Zetas fought a savage turf war — which included bazooka and grenade attacks — against interlopers from the Sinaloa Cartel and others.

Zetas are now operating along the U.S. Mexican border from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.
These newly trained Zata solders are currently enjoying a free rain to enter this country unmolested by American authorities  throughout the American Southwest where American Indian reservations, U.S. Military lands, National Parks, Monuments and U.S. forest lands are being penetrated and used by these smugglers, particularly in south central and south eastern Arizona and along the southern New Mexico border with old Mexico.

There are many gaps in the border that are not being effectively protected by American law enforcement and that at least in part is the reason concerned Americans have in the past formed minute man groups, armed themselves and patrolled the U.S. Mexican border and attempted to divert human and drug trafficking. In the past U.S. Army troops and National Guard units where also placed on the border. The U.S. has increased the numbers of the U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland security have beefed up border checks of travelers entering and exiting our country at known check points along the more than 2000 mile border with Mexico. Even with the billions of dollars having been spend on drug interdiction over the years as part of the war on drugs, the war on drugs is a failure.
 People being smuggled into the U.S. in the truck loads: Most are from Mexico. Central America, South America and even from China and the Middle east. Photo by SBI. Go to:  http://www.secureborderintel.org/Camera1-016.html

judge James Gray of Orange County California who has studied and worked with drug issues for years says “tens of billions of tax payer dollars have been spent on the War On Drugs and that so called war on drugs has failed.”

According to long time border observer Glen Spencer “A massive number of people illegally enter the USA every day by simply walking unchallenged across our southern border.   In the 1952 miles of border from California to Texas they use literally thousands of trails and paths, ever changing their routes to avoid detection.   Cartel involvement has brought increased organizational skills to smuggling operations and, contrary to government claims, only a very small percentage are apprehended.   Accurate statistics are impossible to gather, but the true numbers are staggering, and the general public remains largely uninformed. “

Now there are new groups forming and establishing their own organizations to monitor the situation on our southern border, one of these groups call themselves “Concerned Citizens” I recently had the opportunity to visit this low profile group as they organized monitoring and listening posts east of Gila Bend Arizona on and near I 8 a major U.S. highway that they claim is a transfer point of illegal aliens and loads of drugs on that highways many marker posts where they contend loads of human and drugs enter the U.S. through drug trafficking corridors originating in Mexico.

According to the Concerned Citizens of Arizona they want to alert the public to a new citizen activist opportunity to help them observe and report the daily invasion across our southern border with Mexico.

Daniel Webster said “This is not a Minuteman or extremist group sponsored event – just a call to action by a group of “Concerned Citizens”.
If you and or your group is interested you can contact them through e-mail: dtfsdf@oco.net 
Concerned Citizens report that DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and the other race baiting, ethnocentric anarchists want the people of America to believe the border is under “operational control”. Nothing could be further from the truth says an organizer with the new group of “Concerned Citizens” and they have already have to deployed. They hope to video tape and educate Americans about the real threat to National Security and our public safety.

Concerned Citizens has a full blown showing of people who have come out and are enjoying our federal lands. This is people coming together to help AZ Governor Jan Brewer and the people of Arizona to bring attention to the need for National Guard on our southern border.

The group is in support of Jan Brewer signing SB1070 and say they want to help educate the public. they say “It’s time to bring back the” Minuteman Type Lines”
The group points out that there are 30 miles of area in a straight line that they cover.  They say that there propose is doing what they do best….. “DETERRENCE BY PRESENCE”
 
The operation was kicked off and started operations 15 May the operation is expected to least at least 2-3 weeks.
The locations of deployment is: Interstate 8, 45 miles south of downtown Phoenix
where they have placed multiple camps at major choke points.
 
This I-8 corridor is very active and “VERY DANGEROUS”, there is a very good chance you will see “ARMED DRUG LOADS”!! moving through the area.  This opp “IS NOT” for 1st timers, we are ready and at the top of our game with all the necessary gear for this type of opp and for being self sufficient for desert camping! Interstate 8, MM 141 – Freeman Exit

 
With that said, the biggest thing we can do on this opp is to be seen by the public on I-8 so we will be posting on every mile
    marker (that’s were all the action is anyway) for a 30 mi. stretch. We provide maps/intel/phone numbers and radios on site as, there should be 2 vehicles & 4 people min. per mi. marker for safety.
 
 
To the Concerned Citizens that are working I-8 and to those in the future thank you for supporting Arizona.
 

Concerned Citizens continue to do the job the Federal Government won’t do by securing the border south of Phoenix along Interstate 8. What we are having to do now is what should be done by Congress by putting Troops on the border.

The area south of Interstate 8 between Gila Bend (Junction 85 & I-8) and Casa Grande (Junction I-8 & I-10) is a major smuggling corridor…..drugs, IAs, weapons….. We’ve seen it all. This is approximately a 60 mile stretch, but not all that distance is active with smuggling.  The traffic comes up through the Tohono D’ O’dham Reservation day and night.
The fact that load vehicles use I-8 to enter this area, pick up their loads and leave the area makes them vulnerable to detection.  Load areas on I-8 are typically one of the following:  dirt roads, major washes and/or mile markers. Mile markers are used a “waypoints” by the load vehicles, so this also makes them vulnerable to detection.

Bottom line, if we had enough dedicated individuals “camped out” on the entire known active load up points on I-8, we could effectively shut this area down.  A lot of recon has been completed in this area so we know this is doable…. just a matter of enough dedicated individuals.

This IS a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and is potentially very dangerous so participating individuals who need to be prepared to defend tthemselves.
 t Abandon items found on the smuggling routes lift there by the smugglers and cleaned up by the Concerned Citizens. Photo By Concerned Citizens.

A long list of items, including abandoned vehicles, can be attributed to illegal aliens/ drug smugglers that traverse the desert.  Items such as used needles, drug paraphernalia, plastic grocery bags, paper products, empty water containers, blankets, bakpaks, clothing, used disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, etc are among things you might run across.  The heaps of litter long forgotten by those forging ahead come at a great cost to those who must bear the responsibility of cleaning it up. Each illegal alien leaves an average of 8 pounds of trash at layover and pickup areas. Statistics from the Border Patrol Tucson Sector report approximately 500,000 illegal aliens apprehensions in that sector for 2009.   Conservatively, the Border Patrol apprehends 1 in 5 illegal aliens so that means 2, 500,000 illegal aliens leaving 20 million pounds of trash every year in the Arizona Desert !
      

Many argue the government is not doing its job when it comes to securing the border especially with surveillance pictures snapped in March of heavily armed drug runners in a remote desert area near Casa Grande.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu says “it’s a known corridor for drug and human smuggling and it’s same area where Deputy Louis Puroll was shot during a gun battle with six smugglers, “he unloaded upon the suspects that were firing on him that were trying to kill him.”
Puroll was shot in the side and he believes he shot one of the suspects. Sheriff Babue says this latest round of border violence underscores the dangers his deputies face every day, “literally what it appears to be squad size elements using para military tactics that are either escorting largely drug loads or illegal’s.”