ROMA, Texas — Five members of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel were arrested near this border city as they tried to illegally enter the country. The arrests took place this week when the group tried to cross the Rio Grande near the Mexican City of Miguel Aleman into this border city, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the 229th District Attorney’s office revealed.
The men were arrested by Texas state troopers and U.S. Border patrol agents moments after crossing. The men had managed to get into an F-150 pickup that had arrived at the banks of the Rio Grande to pick them up. The driver of the pickup has been charged by state prosecutors with human smuggling.
The names of the five confessed Gulf Cartel members have not been released since they were turned over to federal authorities for prosecution.
As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the Texas border area known as the Rio Grande Valley has been a haven for drug cartel members where they try to hide out when Mexican authorities come close to arresting them. While in Mexico cartel members move around with large armies of gunmen; in Texas the drug lords keep a lower profile in order to avoid drawing the attention of U.S. law enforcement.
In Starr County which includes Roma and Rio Grande City, authorities have arrested Benicio “Comandante Veneno” Lopez and Orlando Roberto “Comandante Boris” Rodriguez . Lopez had been living in Texas where he has a long criminal history that includes murder and other charges.
In Hidalgo County, the area that includes McAllen, authorities have arrested the regional cartel commander known as Juan “Panochitas” Saenz Tamez and Francisco “Comandante Paquito” Martinez.
Both cartel commanders were arrested in Texas where they had been hiding out. Saenz had been hiding out in the border city of Edinburg, while Martinez was arrested by the Law Enforcement Emergency Regional Response Team in rural Mission.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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