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Guatemala Finds Mexico Drug Smuggler
Training Camp
Guatemala
Finds Mexico Drug Smuggler Training Camp
Guatemala - Guatemalan security forces have
discovered a camp run by Mexico's most
violent drug gang where traffickers trained
dozens of gunmen, police said on Friday.
Security forces were tipped off about
suspicious activity at a ranch in Quiche, in
the central highlands, by residents who said
men in ski masks were asking villagers to
join their ranks, police chief Marlene
Blanco said at a news conference.
Two commanders of the Zetas, the armed wing
of Mexico's Gulf cartel, and 37 recruits
fled the camp before the police and army
arrived, leaving behind 500 grenades, six
rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition,
Blanco said.
The spiraling violence of Mexico's drug war,
where rival cartels have resorted to savage
tactics in their struggle for territory,
killed more than 6,200 people last year and
has stoked increasing concern from both
ordinary Mexicans and the country's
neighbors.
"They wanted to recruit young men. They
offered training in the use of certain
weapons and said they had jobs," Blanco
said.
Guatemalan authorities, helped by personnel
from the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, also found an illegal
airstrip, an obstacle course and equipment
for practicing shooting at moving targets.
"We are facing a war against drug
trafficking and you can see what kind of
weapons they have waiting for us," Blanco
said.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has
deployed tens of thousands of soldiers in a
bid to crack down on the violence.
Police believe a series of attacks on buses
in Guatemala City in the past week were
orchestrated by the Zetas to distract
attention from the border where they had
been shipping illegal arms and drugs into
and out of the country. |
