Cartel Gunmen Ambush Mexican Police near Texas Border — Escape Capture

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Coahuila —  Cartel gunmen ambushed a squad of state police officers in a fierce gun battle before making a clean getaway.

Law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that the gun battle took place along the 140-kilometer marking between Piedras Negras, Coahuila, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, immediately south of the border with Texas. The region has a long history of being used as a drug and human smuggling corridor by Los Zetas cartel.

A team of gunmen riding in a pickup attempted to ambush a group of state police officers from the special unit known as Fuerza Coahuila. The police officers resisted the attack and radioed for help. In response, more than 15 police vehicles from Fuerza Coahuila, state investigators, and local police rushed to help their fellow officers under attack.

A second SUV filled with cartel gunmen moved in and helped the first vehicle escape before the police reinforcements arrived. Both vehicles with cartel gunmen managed to make a clean getaway, officials stated. In response to the attack, authorities kicked off a large-scale manhunt throughout the region but were unable to locate the gunmen.

The police unit known as Fuerza Coahuila was created to take on Los Zetas at a time when the cartel had managed to acquire enough power that they operated with complete impunity.

In early 2016, Breitbart Texas published the results of a three-month investigation into how from 2011 to 2013 Los Zetas had kidnapped, murdered and incinerated at least 300 victims from the rural communities in northern Coahuila.

As Breitbart Texas reported, several high ranking state officials in Coahuila, including former governors, have been linked to Los Zetas. For years, the criminal organization managed to take control of the state and operate with complete impunity until special police units managed to re-take control of the state and restore basic security conditions.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “J.M. Martinez” from Coahuila.