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Drug cartel members are using a variety of fronts and subterfuges – from fake tamale stands to child decoys – to gather intelligence about enhanced U.S. border security and exploit weaknesses to send in people and drugs, according to a new report obtained by The Washington Times.

The findings, by the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, underline the growing threat to U.S. security from a porous border. Mexican drug cartels continue to probe for gaps in border defenses while fighting one another and Mexican authorities in a violent conflict that has killed more than 7,000 people in Mexico since the beginning of 2008. U.S. authorities also worry that terrorist groups could exploit vulnerabilities in border security.

According to a report earlier this month by the warfare group about the San Diego-Tijuana border area, the cartels are finding novel ways to move contraband and people into the U.S., including wedging children into gaps in the cement pylons at border barriers.

“The smuggling facilitator or families of the illegal migrants will use children to lodge them in the gaps of the cement pylons, at which point a U.S. fire department is called in to free the child,” the report said. “This tactic relies on the U.S. first responders’ initiative to rescue or save a human life and subsequently creates a physical gap – which generally takes two weeks to repair – to use for border breaching.”

The cartels also use torches in backpacks to cut through fences and tamale stands and personal watercraft for surveillance, the report said. They ship drugs through sewers and may be planning to send them into the U.S. on the backs of men parachuting out of planes.

Cartels already have used hang gliders and other ultralight aircraft to move narcotics into the U.S. These craft can carry about 200 pounds of drugs.

The report suggested that the cartels were looking to upgrade the technique by using newer equipment, allowing them to bring in bigger loads.

“Civilian or military trained tandem jumpers could deliver a payload of 750 pounds, while the delivery aircraft would be able to avoid United States airspace,” the report said. “The jumpers would be able to land successfully at desired locations using off the shelf GPS and equipment, and at locations previously inaccessible to ultra-light aircraft. This tactic also will permit multiple jumpers to converge on a location increasing payload delivery.”

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/28/crafty-cartels-test-vulnerable-us-border/

Now before all the supporters of illegals start laughing they just better understand Drug addiction soars in Mexico.AGUA PRIETA, Mexico — Carlos Antonio López started using crack at age 11 to kill the pain of his mother’s death.
“I started with marijuana, but after a while it didn’t fill me up anymore,” he says. “Then I started on crack. You get obsessed, you can’t think about anything else.”

Now 18, López is in his sixth stint in rehab.

Not so long ago, stories like López’s were unusual in Mexico, where drug addiction had never been a widespread problem. These days, the country is dealing with an unprecedented epidemic of drug use that is partly a result of better U.S. border enforcement, experts say.

The new border fence and intensified patrols by both Mexican and U.S. federal agents have made it harder for Mexican cartels to get drugs into the USA. As a result, more narcotics remain in Mexico where they are sold to local consumers, says Marcela López Cabrera, director of the Monte Fenix clinic in Mexico City, which trains drug counselors.
The number of new patients at Mexican treatment centers has more than quadrupled since 2000. The health ministry has announced plans to build 300 new rehab centers, triple the current total, to deal with the overflow.

“We used to be mainly a country of transit for drugs. Now we’ve become a consumer,” says Ricardo Sánchez, director of research for the health ministry’s rehab centers.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón warned last month that cartels are no longer just trying to get drugs to the USA, but generate consumers “here in Mexico who will buy them, and buy them for the rest of their lives.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-07-22-mexaddicts_N.htm

In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced — and of those, 90 percent — 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover — were found to have come from the U.S.

But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.

In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.

So, if not from the U.S where do they come from? There are a variety of sources

– The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers http://www.jpfo.org/articles-assd/mex-guns-lies.htm

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