U.S. agents find rocket launcher near Mexico border

Related Topics

By Jared Taylor

MCALLEN, Texas | Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:44pm EDT

MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Border Patrol agents found a rocket launcher, assault rifles and explosives in a bag along the Rio Grande river in Texas, the agency said on Wednesday, suggesting a link to Mexico's drug wars.

Agents discovered the weapons on Tuesday on a quiet stretch of the Rio Grande near Fronton, a small community about 210 miles south of San Antonio. No arrests have been made.

"These deadly weapons could have had a devastating impact on communities on both sides of the border and to our agents and other law enforcement officers," Rosendo Hinojosa, head of the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande valley, said in a statement.

Inside the black bag were a rocket launcher, grenade launcher, six assault rifles, 20 ammunition magazines for various weapons and three packages of what appeared to be C-4 plastic explosive, the statement said.

Mexican drug cartels often rely on grenades and assault rifles in an escalating battle among rival gangs and against security forces. More than 42,000 people have died in Mexico in drug-related violence since late 2006, when President Felipe Calderon declared war on the traffickers.

Mexican officials have said the smuggling is driven by heavy demand for drugs among Americans and the bloodshed fueled by weapons brought across the border from the United States.

(Edited by Cynthia Johnston and John O'Callaghan)
U.S.
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (3)
JamVee wrote:
The last sentence of this article reads, in part “and the bloodshed fueled by weapons brought across the border from the United States.”

What it should say is “and the bloodshed fueled by weapons brought across the border from the United States under the failed “fast and furious” gun running operation, designed and operated by the US Dept. of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the (ATF).”

Sep 14, 2011 7:16pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
bobgunslinger wrote:
thank the batfe for supplying these to mexican cartel!when will we abolish the batfe and stop handing guns over to cartel?washington will just try to push another non-sensible gunlaw for legal citizen`s to jump through instead of taking action agains one of it`s own!

Sep 15, 2011 2:03pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
Johndoelives wrote:
I’m curious Where I can pick up rocket launchers, grenade launchers and c4 and dets here in the states.the argument that the armaments being used come from the US rings hollow here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure many semiauto long guns do come across the border, however these types of arms(rocket/ m203 40mm/c4) are not freely available to the average person if at all.The term assault weapon is over used, I would be curious to find out what type of long guns were found as the rest of the hardware is strictly military hardware, I am betting the longs were as well. The rhetoric used is a deflection from the hardwares origins, that I’m guessing would be found to be a military unit in Mexico .

Sep 16, 2011 10:41pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »