Borderland Beat
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Thanks to my sidekick Lacy for bringing this to my attention!
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Mexican drug cartels pose “the most significant organized crime threat to the state.” That’s according to the Texas Public Safety Threat Overview 2013, which was released today following its presentation at the 2013 Texas Emergency Management Conference in San Antonio earlier this week.
The 76-page report, which can be read HERE, identifies myriad “threats” to the state — everything from prison gangs to “criminal aliens” to child traffickers to terrorists (among them would-be Fountain Place bomber Hosam “Sam” Smadi) to drug traffickers bring “cheese” into schools around Northwest Dallas. As the DPS notes in its release this afternoon, its threat assessment was culled from info provided by myriad local and federal law enforcement agencies.
But, says the report, the cartels are No. 1 on the threat list. “Six of the eight cartels currently have command and control networks operating in the state, moving drugs and people into the United States, and transporting cash, weapons and stolen vehicles back to Mexico,” says today’s release.
Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw adds this in a prepared statement: “The impact of cartel crime is painfully obvious when we look to our neighbors in Mexico, with some 60,000 deaths since 2006 and continued cases of brutal torture. It is a top DPS priority to severely obstruct the range and power of Mexican drug organizations to affect the public safety of Texas citizens.”
According to the report, the Zetas and La Familia are the cartels most active in North Texas.
Source StateTxUS