US and Mexican authorities are waging war on a network of cartel observation posts occupying the high ground along their smuggling routes throughout Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States. These cartel "scout sites" are usually outfitted with solar panels to power radio equipment to communicate with passing smugglers or other scout sites along a smuggling route if law enforcement activity is observed.
The scout site pictured above gave cartel lookouts a view of a Mexican highway in the state of Sonora. When Mexican soldiers captured it - and another nearby lookout position - they were staffed by four well-armed, camouflaged cartel members.
The cartel members, as is typical, were equipped with high-calibre weapons when arrested by the Mexican military.
The campaign to eliminate these Mexican Cartel Observation & Communications posts from high points along smuggling routes in Arizona and the neighboring Mexican State of Sonora was first acknowledged in a social media post by the US Border Patrol in January.
The next month, the Border Patrol announced a successful dawn raid of a scout site in "rugged desert terrain" near Casa Grande, Arizona, backed up by air support from a US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Air & Marine Operations (AMO) air crew.
Two camouflaged cartel scouts equipped with cell phones, radios, solar panels, and binoculars were arrested.
Another camouflaged cartel scout carrying multiple digital radios and cell phones was captured that same month during the raid of an observation post in the Chupan Mountains of Arizona.
Three more cartel scouts were arrested in Southern Arizona that same month. The CBP says they were members of the Los Memos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. As the extent of the Sinaloa Cartel's scouting network came into focus, Arizona Border Patrol Agents began conducting joint operations with their counterparts on the Mexican side of the border.
US Border Patrol Agents also shared information about the location of Sinaloa Cartel scout sites on the Mexican side of the border, leading to the recent raids by the Mexican Military:
“Casa Grande Border Patrol International Liaison Units worked with the Mexican Authorities to locate illicit scout sites south of the international border. The Government of Mexico utilized the information provided by Border Patrol to find and dismantle smuggling scout sites. Eradication of these sites prevent Cartels from having a foothold on smuggling operations that lead into Arizona. Thank you, Government of Mexico for the partnership.” - Chief Patrol Agent Sean McGoffin, Tucson Border Patrol Sector
Despite these recent successes, authorities on both sides of the border know it will be easy for the cartel to relocate and re-establish the sites. Replacing the arrested guides will be easy as well.
One scout captured in Arizona in February told Border Patrol Agents he was paid $10,000 a month to inform the cartel of law enforcement activity along his section of the smuggling route and helped 1,000 migrants evade arrest.
Should federal penalties be increased for those convicted of serving as cartel scouts?
Share your opinions in the comments to this article.
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Thanks Jack for the updates. God bless our Border Patrol Agents and the Mexican government too. Will be sharing also.
Its an invasion of our sovereign borders its called war