A Mexican transnational criminal group aligned with the Sinaloa Federation (Sinaloa Cartel) is performing a surveillance operation on U.S. soil against U.S. law enforcement personnel. The cartel is attempting to identify U.S. law enforcement agents’ confidential informants so that the sources can be murdered. The operation is occurring in southern Arizona, according to a warning classified as law enforcement sensitive (Police Sensitive/Unclassified) that was issued by the FBI. The warning, known a situational report or bulletin, was issued on Friday, June 23, 2017. A highly trusted source working in the region provided the information to Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity and with the agreement that we would redact certain details in our public report.
This deadly plot is occurring in Douglas, Arizona, or surrounding areas by a special forces group of the Sinaloa Federation based out of Agua Prieta, Mexico. The cartel’s group, specifically a specialized surveillance team, is called “Grupo Delta.” The FBI-issued report names a specific individual as a known member of the Agua Prieta drug trafficking organization and it asserts that this individual deployed the cartel surveillance team into the U.S. for this effort. Breitbart Texas agreed to omit the name of the cartel operative in this report.
Though the FBI-issued situational report does not specify the name of the specific Mexico-based criminal group, Agua Prieta is controlled by a group known as Los Salazar which operates under the banner of the Sinaloa Federation; thereby making them part of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Agua Prieta is located on the border with Douglas, Arizona, approximately two hours southeast of Tucson, Arizona.
The source related that the desert area in this portion of southern Arizona is very volatile because of rival drug smuggling organizations fighting over the valuable smuggling routes. Breitbart Texas has previously reported on this issue, specifically that Los Salazar is engaged in turf battles with another Sinaloa Federation group known as Los Memos. The source said that the heavy traffic related to smuggling activities involves heavily armed criminals: those who are smuggling drugs and those who are protecting drug loads from rip gangs known as “Bajadores.”
These rip gangs roam the desert mountains looking for drug loads to rip along known smuggling routes. The smuggling organizations are forced to deploy anti-rip teams to provide security for these drug loads. These smuggling organizations also deploy mountain top to mountain top counter-surveillance lookouts. These lookouts are known as cartel scouts, another subject Breitbart Texas has repeatedly reported upon.
The Sinaloa’s Los Salazar began using armed scouts in their territory as problems with Los Memos heated up. The scouts are frequently equipped with long rifles and surveillance equipment such as high-powered binoculars and walkie-talkie radios, allowing them to communicate with the smuggling loads and security teams moving along their designated routes below on U.S. soil.
Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)