EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Mexican authorities are reporting the seizure of an armored truck with gunports and a machinegun capable of bringing down aircraft.
Chihuahua state police officers found the stolen Ford F-450 with welded steel plates during a three-day sweep of mountains in the western portion of the state, where violent cartel clashes have been reported in recent weeks.
Using a Bell 429 helicopter, the state police located several marijuana plantations near the towns of Guerrero, Madera and Las Tinajas. They seized a total of 410,400 marijuana plants and found six presumed cartel camps. They located the armored truck in one of them.
“Inside (the truck), there was a Browning .50-caliber machinegun and two ammunition boxes with the bullets already on a belt. It can bring down airships, penetrate military armored vehicles; its presence alone represents a threat and a danger for the surrounding communities,” State police Chief of Staff Luis Aguirre said.
State authorities drove the truck to a police station in a nearby city, escorted by six police cars and a drone, Aguirre said.
No arrests were reported, and Aguirre didn’t say which criminal organization authorities suspected had the truck. He said the truck previously had been reported as stolen.
The mountains of western Chihuahua for the past five years have been the site of violent clashes between groups associated with the Sinaloa cartel and those of La Linea, or the old Juarez cartel.
A 2020 ambush near Madera left 19 people dead. In July, farmers and residents of Indigenous communities filed complaints with a government human rights commission regarding blatant drug cartel activity, shootings and forced disappearances near the town of Moris.
“We are eliminating this threat and possible attacks that could bring a catastrophic scenario,” Aguirre said. “These results reaffirm our capacity to safeguard and improve public safety.”
Chihuahua Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya said police in the past four years have found 45 cartel vehicles armored with steel plates and shut down three shops where armor was crafted and welded onto vehicles.
In addition to the armored trucks, authorities in this northern Mexican border state are also dealing with the threat of cartel drones. Drones have dropped explosives on rivals or authorities at least twice.
“They have been attacking each other and people with this; it’s something new in our state,” Loya said. Drone use “started in Michoacán (state) as a tool used by organized criminals against government institutions. When we started our (public safety plan), we knew drones would be used as weapons.”
He said the state police has acquired a few counter-drone devices and is hoping to secure more as a gift from the United States.