Beyond The Horizon

Missiles For Meth: Cartels and the Black Market in War-Torn Ukraine (7/1/24)

The trafficking of weapons meant for warzones often involves complex networks of arms dealers, corrupt officials, and organized crime groups. Here's a summary of how this process generally unfolds:Acquisition

Conflict Zones: Weapons are initially acquired from conflict zones, where they are often plentiful due to ongoing wars or civil unrest.
Military Surplus: Arms dealers obtain surplus weapons from military stockpiles. These might be obsolete or excess to the needs of the armed forces.
Black Market: Weapons can also be sourced from the black market, where they are sold illegally by corrupt military personnel or officials.

Transportation

Smuggling Routes: Arms dealers use established smuggling routes to transport weapons. These routes often overlap with those used for drug trafficking.
Bribes and Corruption: Bribes are paid to corrupt border officials, customs agents, and police to facilitate the smooth transit of weapons across borders.
Disguised Shipments: Weapons are hidden in shipments of legal goods, such as food or machinery, to avoid detection.

Distribution

Criminal Networks: Weapons are sold to organized crime groups, gangs, or other non-state actors. These groups use their existing distribution networks to move the weapons further.
Drug Cartels: Arms dealers often trade weapons directly for drugs. This is particularly common in regions where drug cartels operate, as they have both the resources and the demand for firearms.
Barter System: In some cases, weapons are bartered for other illicit goods or services, including drugs, making it a mutually beneficial exchange for both parties.

Final Sale or Trade

End Users: The end users of these trafficked weapons can range from gang members and drug cartels to terrorist organizations and insurgent groups.
Profit Generation: The sale or trade of weapons for drugs allows arms dealers to profit significantly, which they reinvest into further illegal activities.
Market Dynamics: The illicit arms market is influenced by supply and demand. As conflicts flare up or as the need for drugs increases, the trafficking patterns and prices fluctuate accordingly.

Impact

Violence and Instability: The influx of trafficked weapons exacerbates violence and instability in both conflict zones and areas plagued by drug-related crime.
Enforcement Challenges: Law enforcement agencies face significant challenges in tracking and intercepting these illegal arms due to the sophisticated methods used by traffickers.

About a year ago we were having the discussion about MANPADS and other shoulder fired systems falling into the hands of the cartels and the legacy media was quick to deny it. Well, like usual, it would seem as if the legacy media wasn't exactly telling you the truth. So in this episode, we are going to swim through the muck and find some clarity.

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Mexican cartels boast of increased firepower, including U.S. weapons (usatoday.com)

Duration:: 17m
Broadcast on:: 01 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. So you remember, oh, I don't know, a year ago, a year and a half ago when we were talking about how the cartels are going to get their hands on weapons from places like Ukraine. And then we had all the fact checkers show up talking about how it's not true, how it's not happening, blah, blah, blah. And I told you that it was well, guess what? Once again, they lied to you and I didn't. And the reason that they lied to you is because they're so scared to shake their narrative about what's going on over in Ukraine. Here's an idea, just be honest with people. And if you were being honest, then you would have told people that there's a gigantic chance that javelins, stingers, and the rest of it are going to fall into the hands of the cartels because that's how this works. When you send all these weapons over to a war zone, there's arms dealers, there's traffickers, and they're going to trade these weapons for drugs. And when you look at the prices of drugs over in Europe, it's a no-brainer. So all those people that were talking all that bullshit previously, where are you at? And now they're going to act like they were on this shit from the very beginning and they were telling you, folks, they're really real. But the really real is this, they lied to you once again. So let's set the record straight here on this episode using an article from USA Today who had the audacity to try to debunk this the first time around. Headline, Mexican cartels boast of increased lethal firepower, including some weapons from the US. This article was authored by Steve Fisher. The man sat on a worn-out office chair in the back room of a market in the Mexican state of Sinaloa amid vegetable trimmings and a haphazard stack of milk crates. He wore a blue shirt, worn jeans, and a ski mask. He asked to be referred by his nickname El Flaco, the skinny guy, so authorities could not identify him. He works as a mercenary, he said, and had come to discuss a closely guarded secret of Mexico's most powerful cartels, the FGM 148 Javelin Infrared Guided Missile Launcher, the same exact weapon system I told you they were rocking with. And I'm going to repost those episodes today, because I think it's important, right? Let's make sure we have the record set straight. And one thing I'll do all day every day is put my sources down there in Mexico up against anyone's. These are people that know what they're talking about. These are people that are hip to the game. These are people that understand what the deal is. And when they're telling me something, I listen, the best way to get information is to talk to the people that are living through it, right? And the people down in Mexico were saying that they have these weapons. But you had these journalists who want to get out here and tell you, oh, no, that's not the case. Those weapons don't exist down there. They would never leave from Ukraine or anywhere else to get down to Mexico. Such bullshit, because those weapons, they're there now. And they've been there for quite some time. El Flaco maintains that he has been trained to perform special operations using shoulder-fired weapons, including the javelin. He said he now trains others to use it as well. And then you add that with all of the other stuff that's going on, the drone squadrons using IEDs. And you have yourself quite the situation down here in Mexico that's about to crack off. David Sausado, a security consultant, confirmed the javelin is being used by cartels and suggested they could be revealing this information as a show of force to Mexico's incoming president, who is to take power later this year, stop it. Everybody knew that they were using this stuff. They weren't making it some kind of big secret. They post on social media, they're running around with it, and people were talking about it. The legacy media, they didn't want to report on it because of Ukraine. They didn't want any kind of bad news when it comes to Ukraine. Oh, weapons are leaving Ukraine and getting into the hands of the cartels. The American people don't want to hear that, right? And for me, it's not to slam bunk on Ukraine. But the facts are the facts, folks, and you deserve the truth. And I'll be damned if I don't give you folks the truth as I know it. Now, does that mean we're always going to be right? That we're not going to get things wrong? Of course not. I'm human. Things slip through the cracks. But when it comes to this kind of stuff, you better believe I'm doing my research. And I'm not going to get on here and tell you that these sorts of weapons are present down in Mexico if they're not. What do I have to gain by that? I'll leave that to the other idiots. If I wanted to be salacious, well, there's plenty of chances to do it when it comes to Epstein, right? I have no interest in clicks. I have no interest in being some kind of snake oil salesman. I talk about the things that I feel are important to all of us. And this is one of those topics that's super important, especially considering how much you've been lied to about all of this. It's to show the government, perhaps this one or the incoming one, that they have the ability to launch a tax of this kind with the weaponry they have. As Sussido said, it's their secret weapon, but they can use it if it's necessary. That's my impression. If El Flaco was telling the truth, javelins would be among the most extreme examples of the escalation in the arms race between cartels and the Mexican military. Cartels Arsenal have now included belt fed, gaddling guns, drone bombs and land mines with all the potential to provoke elected U.S. officials who have advocated invading Mexico. That would be a terrible idea. Absolutely positively terrible idea, set it from the jump and I'll continue to say it. Now, if you want to go after the cartels in a different manner, fine invading Mexico, really, are we really going to have that conversation? The U.S. made javelin is the most sophisticated shoulder-fired missile launcher in the world with a range of a mile and a half. Its main purpose is to destroy military tanks, but it also has the capacity to take down low flying helicopters, according to the owner's manual. And that's exactly what they'll be using them for. They'll be using those javelins to take down helicopters. And remember, these cartels have created their own tanks. So it comes in handy. You're looking to assassinate a fellow cartel leader. He comes rolling through in one of those big-ass narco tanks, those monstrokes, bang, hit them with the javelin and call it a day. If that javelin is going to blow up a tank, you better believe it's going to do some damage to one of these customized trucks turned into a tank. And then you start talking about all of the different scientists that are coming over here from Afghanistan, Pakistan. Shits about to go south, folks. Shits about to go south fast. U.S. officials roundly denied that cartels have javelins, as did a high-level Mexican security official. But despite close scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Defense, there are holes in the U.S. tracking system. Oh yeah, plenty of holes, okay? Whenever there's money to be made and we're talking about cartels and we're talking about the white gold known as cocaine, people want it. And never mind that, what about the synthetics? You can buy a pound of meth for 800 bucks in Los Angeles, strap it to your body, fly to Australia and sell that ship for like 170 grand. So the money's there. And when the money's there, the desire's there. And when you have these weapons to sell well, so much the better. During the Iraq war in 2003, for instance, the department lost track of 35 javelins provided to Iraqi allied forces. ISIS was found to have a javelin in Syria, Kurdish fighters. There also obtained a javelin and the weapon was found at a Libyan warlord base. Back in Mexico, a federal secretary of security official who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity said authorities confiscated two javelins from a faction of CJNG. There's a lot more than that, and I've heard that directly from the horse's mouth. And a similar weapon may have already been secretly used against a high profile Mexican government official. The helicopter crash may not have been what it seemed to be. Oh, like I told you, the helicopter was shot down by an RPG. We've talked about this, but of course, the legacy media wants to bullshit you. They want to tell you something that's not true. They want to tell you something that furthers their narrative when it comes to Ukraine. And it's bad journalism all the way around. Good news for you is I'm not beholden to anybody and I could say whatever the hell I want. The police chief of the state of Agua scalyentes, Porifio Sanchez Mendoza was flying across the capital city in his government helicopter in 2022 when the machine suddenly spiraled out of control. An online video shows the chopper nose dive into a vacant lot and explode in a ball of flames for people were on board with the secretary. All of them died. The crash was one in a string of similar accidents in Mexico in recent years. Like many, it was attributed to mechanical failures. Yeah, by you, maybe not by those of us who are in the know, not by those of us who actually have sources on the ground, we all knew the deal. But the internal forensics report tells another story, according to Saseido, who has reviewed the internal documents. Saseido, who has done security consulting for a Mexican political candidates, including for governor and Senate, said the report details how an explosive projectile pierced the helicopter's door, he said, and the breeze scattered in circle. Inconsistent with a mechanical failure, bingo, 100%. And look, I'm not some engineer, right? I don't know what crash lights look like or anything like that. But I know what I hear and I know that I trust my sources. They haven't directed us in the wrong direction, not once yet. The forensics point to a munition similar to a javelin, he said, adding that part of the helicopter detached due to the impact. Saseido spoke to the forensic official on the case, who did an analysis of the shrapnel and said there was only one type of projectile that matched the results. He said the only missile with these types of characteristics is the javelin. Saseido said, El Flaco, the mercenary, who said the chopper was taken down by a javelin and that he knows the assailant who fired it. I trained him, he said. The secretary of security official confirmed the helicopter was down by an explosive projectile, but could not confirm the make of the weapon. Yo, this is damning for USA Today and all these other outlets that told you that this wasn't happening. And I hate to keep beating the dead horse, right? But folks, this is very important. Be very careful what you're consuming. Be very careful who you trust. Cartel arms race has amped up in recent years. El Flaco said cartels began buying guided missile launchers in part because rival criminal gangs were building tank like attack vehicles whose armor can no longer be pierced, even by high powered 50 caliber Barrett rifles. He said that threats by some US politicians, including Donald Trump to bomb Mexican cartels also played a role. You want to turn these guys into Isis? That's a good way to do it. It was also becoming clear to cartel leaders, he said that the Mexican military was prepared to escalate its attacks in the cartel stronghold city of Cooliacan, including when they arrested Ovidio Guzman, son of El Chapo Guzman, to carry out these high profile raids. The military began more frequently using belt fed, gatling mini guns, which can fire more than 4,000 rounds in a minute from helicopter gunships. Let's not forget that Ovidio was caught with an anti air gun in his bedroom. I mean, for real, are you guys not paying attention? In response, cartel leaders began to look for even bigger weaponry to counter the attacks. If the military gets a new big weapon, El Flaco said, at the Sinaloa market, the cartel will always want something even bigger. The Sinaloa cartel is sought to purchase serviced air missiles and rocket launchers in the past, including in 2009, when three cartel members negotiated prices with people who turned out to be undercover agents with the US drug enforcement. They also tried to buy a dragon fire anti tank missile launcher, the predecessor to the javelin, and two shoulder fired AT4, light anti tank rocket launchers, federal agents arrested all three individuals. Wait, but I thought none of these weapons were present in Mexico. I thought this never happened down there, and everybody was being an alarmist, everybody's some kind of racist or something for bringing it up. Here's an idea, tell people the truth, the people of Mexico, they deserve that, the people of the United States, they deserve that. Unfortunately, we have a legacy media that's controlled by like five entities, and they're all on point with their messaging. Nobody wants to step out of the box, and nobody wants to tell the truth. In a news release at the time, Thomas Brandon with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was clear that criminal organizations and drug cartels, based in Mexico, continue to look towards the United States as a source of supply for firearms, and in this case, military grade weapons, such as grenades, machine guns, and man portable air defense, not one mention of Ukraine. And again, this is what it's all about, make no mistake, they're protecting their narrative that they crafted about Ukraine, the same way the legacy media had to protect their narrative after the invasion of Iraq, you would think they'd learned their lesson, but I guess not. Seven years later, Mexican authorities seized an FIM-43 Red Eye infrared guided missile launcher, which can down a fighter jet from a cartel member in the northern state of Shihuahua. Since 2018, the Mexican government has reported seizing a dozen rocket launchers and 56 grenade launchers from cartels. So why did they lie to you and said none of this was happening? Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Criminal groups are not only increasing their firepower to fight the military, but also to target communities in southern states, such as Micho Akan and Gerato, to increase their territory by taking over land from farmers and rival cartels. Fernando Jose Ventura, a former CJNG member, who fled the criminal organization earlier this year, described to local news outlets and to USA Today, how we watched 200 drone bombs drop onto a community over a 24-hour period. "They bomb non-stop for an entire day," Ventura said. "Why isn't this all over the news? Why don't they talk about this? Why don't they tell you the truth?" The Mexican military has deactivated more than 2,800 land mines since 2018, public records show, more than half of them in the past two years. Earlier this year, authorities in the western state of Micho Akan also seized 117 homemade drone bombs from a factory owned by the Jalisco cartel. The M-134 minigun has begun appearing on crime scenes across the country as well, a weapon with six barrels that can destroy a small car in minutes. Leaked Mexican military documents shared with the news outlets by the transparency organization, DDO Secrets, show the defense ministry seized its first minigun in 2018. ATF director Steven Dettelbach confirmed at a forum last June that cartels now have miniguns. "What he means is they've had them for years, but we're just telling you about them now. That's what he really means." "Threst from US officials known to crime bosses." The increase in cartel firepower comes as some US elected officials have sought to declare Mexican cartels, terrorist organizations, and have repeatedly suggested that US should send the military to kill cartel leaders on their own turf, because that works so well. A little decapitation strategy is a failure, but okay, I guess let's just keep doing it. Republican Dan Crenshaw of Texas and Mike Waltz of Florida introduced legislation to the effect in Congress in 2022, and in 2020 President Donald Trump floated the idea of bombing cartel run fentanyl laboratories, according to a book by Mark Esper, his defense secretary at the time. Now look, if Mexico wants our help, that's one thing. Can't just go down there and start bombing people. More recently, Trump said that if he is reelected, he will send special forces to kill drug lords in Mexico. No, he's not. He's just speaking out of his ass, talking through his hat. That's not going to happen. Speaking through his ski mask in the back of the Cinoloal Market, El Flaco, was barely audible above the din of marketers outside and cars rumbling by, but he wanted to make one thing clear. The cartel is well aware of those threats and will not hesitate to fight back. That includes using a javelin if necessary. His boss, as he said, would not think twice to use it against US forces if they dare enter the country. That would create a terrible war, El Flaco said. We don't let Mexican forces stop us, much less a foreign force. That's exactly how they feel. And if you think they're messing around, go down there and find out all these people that have never even been down to Mexico that have all these opinions about what's going on is wild. Because I'll tell you right now, these dudes have these weapons, they've had these weapons and they're going to have more of them. And mark my words in two, three years from now, you're going to hear reports how these javelins were coming from places like Ukraine, coming from places like the Middle East, and how the cartels were trading drugs to get their hands on those weapons. Just like two years ago, I told you that those weapons existed. Now I'm telling you that there's going to be a proliferation of those weapons and destruction is sure to follow. All right, folks, that's going to do it for this one, but like usual, we're going to continue to swim through all this muck looking for the clarity so that you folks are armed with the knowledge that you need. But until then, that's going to do it for this one. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.