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Hand grenades becoming key weapon in Mexican cartels' arsenals, say authorities
Fox News ^ | August 14, 2014 | Joshua Rhett Miller

Posted on 08/14/2014 6:23:11 PM PDT by jazusamo

Mexican drug cartels, whose trafficking efforts into the U.S. have grown bolder amid the border crisis, are increasingly utilizing a frightening weapon in their arsenal: the hand grenade.

Whether packed with explosives, hollowed out and filled with steel to give them authentic heft or even used to deliver handwritten death threats, grenades are turning up in greater frequency in encounters with suspected cartel members, according to law enforcement authorities and border experts. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed to FoxNews.com that they’ve seen a “trend increase” involving the devices along the entire southwest border, although details were not disclosed due to ongoing investigations.

“The reason you’re seeing so many more [grenades] this year is because much more heavily-armed drug shipments are coming into the United States,” said James Phelps, an assistant professor in the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice at Angelo State University in Texas. “With Border Patrol so heavily distracted doing paperwork and watching the mass flood of people coming into the country, they don’t have as much time to do what they used to do — drug interdiction.”

As a result, in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas, bystanders can hear a grenade or two “go off every night,” Phelps told FoxNews.com. The devices, which sell for up to $500 on the Mexican black market, are primarily surplus military grenades obtained by cartels in Central America, where weapons from the civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua remain readily available.

“The cartels buy them up in mass when they’re found, just like they do with the rest of their guns and artillery,” Phelps continued. “We’ve seen it all across Mexico and we’ve seen it in Central America. It’s not going to be long until we see it in our country.”

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Mexico; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: aliens; banglist; drugcartels; fastandfurious; handgrenades; illegals; immigration; marthasvinyard; marthsavinyard; massachusetts; mexico; obama; texas
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To: jazusamo

They get most of the hand grenades from US sporting goods stores. This is why we need tougher hand grenade laws.


21 posted on 08/14/2014 7:58:26 PM PDT by LucianOfSamasota (Tanstaafl - its not just for breakfast anymore...)
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Rand Paul's immigration speech
...The Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration.

Unfortunately, like many of the major debates in Washington, immigration has become a stalemate-where both sides are imprisoned by their own rhetoric or attachment to sacred cows that prevent the possibility of a balanced solution.

Immigration Reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution. I am here today to begin that conversation.

Let's start that conversation by acknowledging we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.

If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you...

This is where prudence, compassion and thrift all point us toward the same goal: bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society.

Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors.
[Posted on 03/19/2013 7:04:07 AM PDT by Perdogg]
Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reform
Latinos, should be a natural constituency for the party, Paul argued, but "Republicans have pushed them away with harsh rhetoric over immigration." ...he would create a bipartisan panel to determine how many visas should be granted for workers already in the United States and those who might follow... [and the buried lead] "Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers...
[Posted on 04/21/2013 1:52:42 PM PDT by SoConPubbie]
[but he's not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]

22 posted on 08/14/2014 9:11:36 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Thanks jazusamo. Instead, let’s talk about Ferguson.


23 posted on 08/14/2014 9:11:41 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo

How long before we hear of grenades being used by L.A. gangs?


24 posted on 08/14/2014 9:14:20 PM PDT by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
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To: jazusamo

“Build the fence!”

Where are you going to put it?


25 posted on 08/15/2014 5:20:27 AM PDT by Dusty Road
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To: pallis

The Mexican govt has lost control of their northern states that border our country. baraq and holder are actively working to get kids in from Central America. Mexico facilitating this. So based on events, baraq and holder are working in concert with the Mexican govt and the cartels. The bad guys have LOTS of money and dimrats will take campaign funds from anyone, legal or not.

Remember ALGORE getting thousands of dollars from buddist monks who were sworn to a live of poverty? Clinton taking money from the Chicoms?


26 posted on 08/15/2014 6:32:04 AM PDT by Texas resident (The democrat party is the CPUSA)
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