Memo warned of drug cartels targeting rivals with assassins

Dennis Wagner -
Oct. 15, 2010 02:24 PM
The Arizona Republic

Mexican cartels planned to send armed assassins into Arizona this spring to eradicate bandits who were stealing drugs from smugglers, according to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence report disclosed Friday by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

The intelligence email, sent May 13, warned law enforcement agencies that rival cartels had agreed to the plan after a meeting in Rocky Point, Mexico. "Once the bandits have been identified, the sicarios (assassins) will take out the bandits," says the memo.


DHS spokesman Matthew Chandler on Friday responded that the intelligence report "proved to be inaccurate."

"At this time," he said, "DHS does not have any specific, credible information on intra-cartel violence taking place in Arizona."

The Sheriff's news release includes a copy of the alert which was deemed "law enforcement sensitive," and which credits the information to a "proven, credible, confidential source."

According to the intelligence email, cartel leaders in Mexico agreed to send "a group of 15 very well equipped and armed sicarios complete with bullet-proof vests into the Vekol Valley," an area of intense smuggling activity southwest of Casa Grande.

The memo says members of the hit squad planned to establish positions in the valley, then send in backpackers pretending to haul loads of marijuana through the desert to lure armed thieves, known as bajadores, who prowl the area.

Chandler said DHS regularly shares information with state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to keep them aware of potential threats. Just because the agency shares information does not, however, mean the intelligence is credible.

DPS Maj. David Denlinger, director of the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center, said he has not heard of large numbers of armed cartel assassins ever crossing the border for an operation. Denlinger said law enforcement agencies frequently circulate information that cannot be immediately verified.

"While we can't determine the credibility, we push it out for (officer) safety and awareness," he said.

Tim Gaffney, a spokesman for Babeu, said additional information suggests that two Mexican nationals who died in a Vekol Valley shootout in early June might have been bandits ambushed by cartel operatives. "They may have been part of a (drug) rip-off team that was taken out by assassins," he said.

The DHS warning notice includes a final note that, on April 30, the day Pinal County Deputy Louie Puroll was wounded in a controversial shootout with smugglers in Vekol Valley, cartel scouts in the area also reported a shootout.

Babeu, who has been seeking money for counter-smuggling operations, said the intelligence memo proves that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano "knows exactly what the citizens of Arizona are faced with, yet she continues to publicly state how much safer we all are."

"I once again ask her to please put politics aside and secure the border or give us the resources," Babeu said.

Gaffney said Babeu wants 3,000 troops sent to the border and a double-barrier fence erected.

Chandler, the DHS spokesman, said the Obama administration has for 20 months "dedicated unprecedented manpower, technology and infrastructure to the Southwest border," including deployment of National Guard troops in the past few months.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/pina ... z12Tew2fua