In a wee-hours raid on June 12, heavily armed FBI and Border Patrol agents in 15 vehicles swept into the Ruidoso Downs Racetrack and Casino [2], in Ruidoso, NM, seizing dozens of racehorses. A simultaneous raid was carried out at Zule Farms, in Lexington, Okla, which apparently supplied horses to the Ruidoso track. A total of seven were arrested in the raids, accused of using the horse trade to launder money for Los Zetas [3] drug cartel. Indicted in the case are accused Zeta commanders Miguel Angel Treviño Morales AKA "Z-40" [4] and his brother Oscar Omar Treviño Morales AKA "Z-42"—who are presumed to remain at large in Mexico. (El Paso Times [5], AP [6], June 13; El Paso Times [7], June 12)
In another sign of "legitimate" businesses being co-opted by the cartels, a series of arson attacks were carried out late last month on five warehouses of junk-food giant Sabritas [8], Mexican subsidiary of US multinational PepsiCo [9], in Guanajuato [10] and Michoacán [11] states. Dozens of distribution trucks were destroyed in the raids by masked men who hurled firebombs. Authorities said the four arrested suspects are linked to the Knights Templar [12] cartel. (AP [13], CNN [14], May 29)
The grisly human rights toll of the Mexican cartel wars continues to rise. On June 7, authorities found the mutilated remains of 14 people inside a truck parked in front of city government offices in El Mante, Tamaulipas [15]. (CNN [16], June 9) In late April, four children who disappeared on their way to school were discovered suffocated and buried on a ranch not far from their homes in Tapijulapa, Tabasco [17]. (AP [18], April 28) The attacks are presumed to be related to the Zetas' war with their regional rivals the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels [3].
See our last posts on Mexico [19] and the narco wars [15].
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