BROWNSVILLE, Texas—The gunmen who recently hijacked a cargo truck carrying visas and documents bound for the U.S. consulates in Monterrey and Guadalajara were able to steal 11,500 border crossing cards that had just left this border city.
Breitbart Texas was able to learn exclusively that the truck had 11,500 border crossing cards and had just departed from Brownsville when it was hijacked just south of the Texas border as previously reported.
The hijacking took place on June 7, near the Mexican border city of Matamoros. The truck had just left the U.S. Logistics Center in Brownsville when the armed robbery took place, a government official close to the case who spoke with Breitbart Texas confirmed.
The 11,500 stolen border crossing cards are non-immigrant visas the size of a credit card. Mexican nationals use them for business or leisurely travel within the border zones of the United States.
The visas were destined for the individuals who had gone through the visa process and had been approved in the consular offices in Monterrey and Guadalajara.
While little information has been released about the suspected hijackers, the area where the crime occurred historically has been controlled by the Gulf Cartel, a vicious crime syndicate that has been tied to drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, robberies, and other crimes.
Currently, the Gulf Cartel is undergoing a series of internal struggles as rival factions continue to fight for control of the lucrative border areas just south of the border with Texas. As the fighting continues, the Gulf Cartel has resorted to petty crimes in order to fund its operations, including bank robberies and extortion.
As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, the Gulf Cartel has been deeply involved in the smuggling of thousands of illegal aliens through South Texas and is believed to have made $38 million in a matter of months last summer during the border surge.
While consular officials have stated that the border crossing cards have been flagged by authorities to avoid their use in international ports of entry, authorities have not said anything about the visas possibly being used in the U.S. as a form of ID by people already in the country.