Arizona Cops Threatened by Mexican Drug Cartel

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

A Mexican drug cartel has threatened police officers in Arizona who confiscated a marijuana shipment, prompting the small town department to warn its officers to remain armed and have radios with them at all times, and keep their body armor handy.

Police and experts believe the warning against the Nogales, Ariz., cops marks the first time that powerful Mexican drug cartels, used to bribing and bullying police south of the border, have targeted U.S. officers.

Jeffrey Kirkham, chief of the Nogales police department, told ABCNews.com that informants had delivered the threats after two off-duty police officers seized 400 pounds of marijuana while horseback riding outside the city earlier this month. The pot was worth about $250,000, he said.

Kirkham said informants have told his police department that off-duty officers should ignore cross-border drug shipments or face retaliation.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/mexican-drug-cartels-threaten-police-arizona/story?id=10995661

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Make marijauna legal, tax it, and take the damn cartels out of the loop.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. This is why I only smoke homegrown

These cartels take all the fun out of it with their killings and violence.

[Tempest]

9. A lot of the homegrown bud is by the Mexican cartels

Here in California a lot of people arrested in pot growing operations are illegal Mexicans working for the cartels.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

15. Fortunately I know my people personally

God bless the American farmer!

:toast:

[Tempest]

17. You're one of the lucky ones

And when I say ones, I mean practically the only one. :P

[U4ikLefty]

20. Are you implying that most of the pot grown in California is by Mexican cartels?

Really?

[Tempest]

21. No I'm not

What I said was most of the pot growing operations that have been raided and where someone was arrested the person arrested has been a Mexican illegal working for a cartel.

[glinda]

2. Personally would rather see our Military down at the border than in the Middle East.

[pezDispenser]

5. agreed

I can't see how anyone would argue with this as part of the overall immigration solution. Of course RW nutjobs will claim we have the resources to be in both places at the same time. :eyes:

[boppers]

28. Posse Comitatus makes it messy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

[KillCapitalism]

31. True

We use predator drones to bomb the Taliban in Afghanistan. Why aren't we using them to bomb drug cartel members in the same manner? They're terrorists probably on a larger scale than the Taliban.

[NHLrocks]

3. then they will be shipping more heroin and cocaine over the border

and we will still have the same problem.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Are drug cartel overlords ready to face the U.S. military over weed?

It won't stay local with police.

[Hulk]

6. It IS time for the US Military to take over this issue on the south border

Long past due. IF we didn't have our troops stuck over in Iraq and Afghanistan chasing a ghost, we could actually be accomplishing something on the southern border with our treasure and blood. The Mexican military is trying their hardest....with the corruption and violence. Where are we? ...in Asia, for NO GOOD REASON!!

Yes, legalize marijuana. Wish I could smoke it without getting so damned confused and paranoid that I don't enjoy the trip...but legalize it and tax it for those that can handle it, or want to deal with it. This is absolute lunacy! Does anyone know the story of "prohibition"???? God, nation of morons!!

[bossy22]

19. YES!!!!

i've been saying this all along.

I think we can even go one step further- the drone attacks in pakistan seem to work nicely so why don't we try them on the drug cartels. Nothing like a hell-fire missle coming out of nowhere to make you re-think your career choice

[jwirr]

7. And make it USA grown.

[Tempest]

10. See my post #9. n/t

[jwirr]

12. Thanks, but you know what I mean.

[formercia]

18. That mexican weed is crap

If it was legalized here. The kick-ass weed grown in the US would destroy the Mexican market.

[AmericaIsGreat]

8. To the cartel: you really don't want any of this

Seriously, don't tempt us. We invaded a country (perhaps two) over nothing, and we've got enough people and equipment available to light you up. If our officers find your smuggled drugs we'll take them and you'll fucking well deal with it.

[Tempest]

11. Agreed

If the Mexican government can't control the cartels, then we should intervene. With or without the Mexican government's blessing.

[SunnySong]

13. Well I think we found a way to dispose of all that cluster bomb munitions that have been giving us

so much bad PR.

Honestly this is one military action i can approve of.

[Vincent441]

14. +1

[pinboy3niner]

16. Militarizing the border is an RW talking point

The wingnuts claim "nothing is being done" about border security, and that violence is up. Yet, in the last five years, the number of Border Patrol agents has increased from 10,000 to more than 20,000 today. And, under pressure, President Obama has ordered up an additional 1,200 National Guard troops.

Who is spreading false information about U.S. border violence? GOP pols like Sen. John McCain and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. The truth is that, despite violence in Mexico, violence has not increased on the U.S. side of the border:

NOGALES, Ariz. - Assistant Police Chief Roy Bermudez shakes his head and smiles when he hears politicians and pundits declaring that Mexican cartel violence is overrunning his Arizona border town.

"We have not, thank God, witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico," Bermudez says emphatically. "You can look at the crime stats. I think Nogales, Arizona, is one of the safest places to live in all of America."

FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line. Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down.

Violence is not up on Arizona border
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/05/02/20100502arizona-border-violence-mexico.html

Even residents of the border region who want more security are surprised by the talk of violence.

"I have to say, a lot of this is way overblown," said Gary Brasher of Tuboc, Arizona, who is president of the Coalition for a Safe and Secure Border.
.
So why send troops to the region?

"That's really something to ask the White House," Easterling said.

AP Impact: US-Mexico border isn't so dangerous
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jun/03/ap-impact-us-mexico-border-isnt-so-dangerous/

Whenever threats are made, it makes sense to take precautions--and in this case more federal Border Patrol agents have been sent to the area to deal with the threat. But border security experts doubt the cartels will act on the threats. If you read further down in the OP-linked story, you find this:

Phil Jordan, former DEA intelligence chief along the U.S.-Mexico border, believes Guzman may have been behind the threats in order to divert law enforcement attention away from the heavily-travelled drug corridor between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. But he doesn't think Mexican cartels will actually target American law enforcement.

"Let me tell you something about the cartels – whether they're from Colombia or Mexico or Russia – they do not under any circumstances want to spend time in American jails," Jordan told ABCNews.com. "The cartels are not going to take us on on American soil. They have cells all over the U.S. but they don't want that type of attention."

[Tailormyst]

22. Stupid move on the part of the cartels

They may get away with that shit in Mexico, but not here. If they move against law enforcement here they will find the US military is a little tougher then they planned for. I have no doubt Obama would sent forces to the border if they begin to act on these threats.

[MadMaddie]

23. If this is the case this moves into the Governments hands

and the Cartels should be treated as terrorists. They display all of the characteristics of terrorist. Once this is done..it's on.

It's not the migrant workers we should be concerned about it is the Cartels and their violence.

[chrisa]

24. The same people that treat women as a commodity to be kidnapped, bought, and sold.

Send them all to hell. If there's anyone that I hope dies a horrible death, it's members of cartels.

And you could say, "they're just providing for their families!", but tell me that when they look a woman in the eyes, begging to get back to her family after she was kidnapped, and callously turn away. Anybody who does that does not deserve to live. Fuck them all.

[Old Troop]

25. I see a lot of talk about stationing US military on the border. What would

the rules of engagement be? I saw military action to secure a border 20 years ago in another part of the world. The result was four destroyed cars and 17 dead people including infants.

[The Magistrate]

26. There Is, Ma'am, No Actual Evidence Of Any Threat By People Able And Ready To Carry It Out

There is a claim a couple of low-lifes said something about what somebody else intended....

"Those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak."

[hayu_lol]

27. The very best way to destroy a military organization...

would be to assign one to border patrol with prissy Rules of Engagement that do no-one any good. A couple of Aerostats(blimps)loaded with all sorts of radar could handle the entire border. Once movement is spotted, alert goes to the nearest chopper unit which is dispatched(2 or more for large groups spotted)loaded with Border Patrol Agents, not military personnel.

Aerostats are quite large and are tethered by cable to the ground. They could sit up at about 10,000 feet with the scanning equipment monitored and operated by a ground station...i.e., no personnel aboard at all. The aerostats would be able to see far south across the border: all ground and air routes. All aircraft approaching the border would be immediately warned and if they continued north, fighter jets could be dispatched to take them down.

[boppers]

29. Only two Aerostats for the whole border?

Seriously?

[boppers]

30. Turns out that's already being done.

"The primary mission is to provide low-level radar surveillance along the southwest border of the United States and Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Caribbean in support of federal agencies involved in the nation's drug interdiction program. The secondary mission is to provide North American Aerospace Defense Command with low-level surveillance coverage for air sovereignty in the Florida Straits. The aerostat radar data is available to NORAD and U.S. Customs and Border Protection."

"Maximum Detection Range: 200 nautical miles (400 km)
Operational Sites: Yuma and Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; Deming, N.M.; Marfa, Eagle Pass, and Rio Grande City, Texas; Cudjoe Key, Fla.; and Lajas, Puerto Rico. Sites located at Morgan City, La., and Matagorda, Texas, are in a cold-storage configuration. Contract management office and logistics hub are located in Chesapeake, Va."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_System