Drug cartel reportedly plotted to blow up Texas dam

[stevie_d_64]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100603/ ... ews_ts2382" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mexican and U.S. authorities were "secretly scrambling" last month to thwart a Mexican drug cartel's plot to blow up a Texas dam that would have flooded an area with about 4 million inhabitants, according to the Houston Chronicle's Dane Schiller and James Pinkerton.

Law enforcement officials were reportedly tipped off to a plot when they found one of the handbills that the drug cartel Los Zetas was distributing on the Mexican side of the river, warning residents to clear out ahead of the explosion. Authorities found "small amounts of dynamite near the dam," the Chronicle said.

Los Zetas wanted to blow up the Falcon dam not to hurt civilians, but to exact revenge on a rival gang called the Gulf Cartel, which smuggles drugs in the area, local authorities said. The gang has also been implicated in armed robberies of Texan fishermen in Lake Falcon, the reservoir behind the dam.

U.S. officials said they had "serious and reliable sources" informing them of the plot, the Chronicle reported. Officers placed hidden cameras on the dam and hid in the brush to watch.

Police Capt. Francisco Garcia of Roma, Texas, told the Chronicle that the traffickers would have needed a tractor-trailer full of dynamite to pull off the explosion.

Nothing to see here people...Move Along...Move Along...

[MechAg94]

That seems incredibly stupid on their part. One way to bring down a huge, huge overreaction on the US's part (one way or the other) is to turn from drug smuggling to terrorism.

[74novaman]

I ALMOST wish they'd been successful. Maybe then we'd finally be taking our border problems seriously.

Almost.

[SecedeTX]

Sad to say, but I think the drug cartels are smarter than that.

[Stupid]

I ALMOST wish they'd been successful. Maybe then we'd finally be taking our border problems seriously.

Almost.

Yeah, but they might blame on someone else though.

[couzin]

Take more than a few sticks of dynamite to blow a hole in a rolled compact earth and concrete structure (the 'dam').

[Griz44]

Yeah, but they might blame on someone else though.

You know Bush was behind this, you just HAVE to believe them!

[joe817]

Great article stevie_d! Thanks for posting!

Embedded in that article is the link to the Houston Chronicle article that gives a little more info. The comments are interesting:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 33818.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As one commentor said "if they can smuggle a tractor/trailer full of drugs, what makes you think they can't smuggle a tractor/trailer full of dynamite?"........indeed.

[7075-T7]

Take more than a few sticks of dynamite to blow a hole in a rolled compact earth and concrete structure (the 'dam').

I agree. Even a tractor full of dynamite in front of the dam isn't going to do much damage. Dynamite works best when surrounded by the thing you're going to "move". Now if they put it on the water side of the dam, then we're talking a different story since you have a better medium for the shockwake to move through... though IANAEE, nor do I condone or endorse the destruction of property, personal or civil.

Maybe the trafficers watch too many movies, they might as well drive a car into it, since they ALWAYS exlode with the force of a small bomb

[karder]

The story does not make any sense. The Zetas are the best trained and most militant of the various cartels and they have used explosives in Mexico, but not in this fashion. Blowing up a dam in the U.S. to exact revenge on the Gulf cartel does not add up. Why would the Gulf Cartel care? The one thing that all the cartels have in common is that they are not losing sleep over hurting civilians either. IF there is any truth to the story about fliers being distributed telling residents to flee because they were going to blow up a dam, it was a diversionary tactic. This "warning fliers" tactic has been used in a number of Mexican border towns and is intended to force Mexican troops and authorities to change their locations and go to the towns to provide security. This disruption of authorities temporarily opens up routes and the gangs are able to move their products. These Cartel leader are evil but they are not stupid. I don't believe that there was any attempt to blow up a dam. It would cause way too many problems and provide no real benefit to the gangs. This ain't Bin Laden were talking about.