Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Rocket launcher found in Tijuana drug raid
sign on san diego ^ | 2/5/04

Posted on 02/05/2004 9:18:15 AM PST by knak

Anti-tank weapon is used by U.S. military in Iraq

By Marisa Taylor and Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

February 5, 2004

Mexican agents are trying to figure out how a rocket launcher used by the U.S. military wound up in a Tijuana house just a block from the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

Agents used a search warrant to enter the house Tuesday and found the weapon along with about a ton of marijuana. They already had discovered a truck packed with 2 tons of marijuana in front of the house.

Officials with the Federal Agency of Investigation, Mexico's equivalent of the FBI, began searching Colonia Rancho Escondido, a neighborhood in the eastern section of the city, after receiving an anonymous tip that a drug shipment would be arriving in Tijuana.

The weapon they found was identified as an AT-4 anti-tank rocket launcher, which is being used in Iraq by the U.S. military. The lightweight, shoulder-fired weapon is considered disposable because it can be fired only once. It is capable of destroying a lightly armored vehicle.

Mexican officials notified several U.S. law enforcement agencies of the discovery, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has offered Mexico its assistance.

Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego, said her agency was told the weapon could no longer be used because it looked like it had been fired. Mexican officials said they were still examining the weapon to be sure.

"Our understanding is that it's not a threat," Mack said. "Of course, we want to find out how it got there. This is a military weapon and inactive as it is we want to follow up on any leads."

Experts said they were concerned that the weapon, which appeared to be several years old, could have been stolen from U.S. or foreign military stockpiles and smuggled into Mexico as part of an arms-for-drugs deal.

"Maybe someone was badly snookered or they already used it," said Tim Lomperis, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer. "I would also be worried about the possibility that this could be an arms dealer showing off what these things can do."

There have been reports of small rockets being sold by illegal arms merchants. A U.S. official said the Tijuana-based Arellano Félix drug cartel is known to occasionally use them.

In 2002, authorities discovered a cache of weapons, including a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, on a ranch east of Mexicali where the body of a Baja California state police officer was found buried.

"We see AK-47s in the hands of drug traffickers all the time, but a (rocket) launcher is a very rare find," said Michael Vigil, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego.

Mexico prohibits civilians from carrying guns and most other weapons except in special circumstances, and arms violations of any sort can carry penalties more severe than in the United States.

One Mexican federal official, who asked to remain anonymous, said Mexico is awash in weapons smuggled in from the United States.

"It's a big problem that doesn't get enough attention," the official said.

AT-4s are not designed to shoot down aircraft. However, experts said such a discovery raises obvious security concerns for both Mexico and the United States.

"A light anti-tank weapon is a very serious weapon," Lomperis said. "It's like what the Iraqi insurgency is using to knock out Humvees. You don't find this type of weapon at a gun store."


TOPICS: Mexico; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: immigration; mexico

1 posted on 02/05/2004 9:18:16 AM PST by knak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: knak
Obviously, they're gonna launch the MJ over the border using the rocket launcher..
2 posted on 02/05/2004 9:20:25 AM PST by ken5050
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
Very interesting, wonder if it came from our allies the frogs or krauts?
3 posted on 02/05/2004 9:21:36 AM PST by dts32041 (Will Kerry ever call his wife an African American?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
but a (rocket) launcher is a very rare find

Expect to find more. I can just imagine the drug kingpins looking at the news regarding the RPG attacks in Iraq and going "I gotta get me some of those."
4 posted on 02/05/2004 9:26:54 AM PST by johnb838 (You never knows what's inside of a police state until you rips it up the gut and looks inside.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
Who knows what's down in Mexico??? I'm still amazed that AQ hasn't managed to at least fire an RPG at the White House in the 2-1/2 years since 9/11.
5 posted on 02/05/2004 9:26:56 AM PST by mikegi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
I've been saying for months that Saudi, Iraqi and Muslim terrorists have been flooding across our porous border. They rest/train in Cuba where Fidelito welcomes them and is happy to accept Saudi gold and oil in return. Fidelito then ships them to Mexico where Presidente Fox and his corrupt army and drug lord employers are happy to move them (for a fee) wherever they want to go. Fox can do this because these are all American problems.

The terrorists then stream across the border to position themselves wherever their plans require. The beauty and ease of this plan is aided by the fact that the Muslims pick up some Spanish on the way and, in Mexico, get official natricula cards so they can blend in with all the other illegal alien criminals out to harm America. Why Bush kisses Fox's rear on this issue is beyond me. All I know is that Bush's failure to defend our southern border will probably turn into a disaster.

6 posted on 02/05/2004 9:27:14 AM PST by Tacis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tacis
I've been saying for months that Saudi, Iraqi and Muslim terrorists have been flooding across our porous border.

And your proof that Saudi, Iraqi, or Muslim terrorists had anything to do with this is ... ? And your proof that this is actually an operating weapon and not an empty launcher picked up at an army-navy store for show is ... ?

All I know is that Bush's failure to defend our southern border will probably turn into a disaster.

Gotta get that Bush bash in there somehow, don't you? Oh yeah, Bush is responsible for drug criminals buying heavy weapons on the black market, global warming, and the heartbreak of psoriasis.

Try DU.

7 posted on 02/05/2004 9:36:06 AM PST by Johnny_Cipher (Making hasenfeffer out of bunnyrabbits since 1980)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: knak
I wonder how many they've kept, without reporting.
8 posted on 02/05/2004 9:36:21 AM PST by baltodog (So, can we assume that a job that an illegal alien won't do must be REALLY bad?....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dts32041
a rocket launcher used by the U.S. military

Rut row.....

9 posted on 02/05/2004 9:38:55 AM PST by OXENinFLA ("We disregard the lessons of history." ----- Patton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ken5050
I think they were going to make the rocket launcher into a giant bong.
10 posted on 02/05/2004 9:39:47 AM PST by conserv13
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: knak
Just a guess, mind you, but I think there's probably a young enlisted fellow at Camp Pendleton who knows precisely how that rocket launcher found its way to Mexico.
11 posted on 02/05/2004 9:40:16 AM PST by r9etb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
It sounds like this was a used tube. Anyone know if these are available on the surplus market the way dewat/demil bazooks, mortars, and such are?
12 posted on 02/05/2004 9:41:17 AM PST by templar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tacis; hchutch
I've been saying for months that Saudi, Iraqi and Muslim terrorists have been flooding across our porous border.

Saying something for months does not make it fact.

Evidence makes it fact.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

Kindly submit same.

13 posted on 02/05/2004 9:42:09 AM PST by Poohbah ("Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons?" -- Maj. Vic Deakins, USAF)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Johnny_Cipher
And your proof that this is actually an operating weapon and not an empty launcher picked up at an army-navy store for show is ... ?

It probably is a fired discard.

Gotta get that Bush bash in there somehow, don't you

As I recall it was Bush who proposed the amnesty for illegal aliens. Rewarding criminal border crossing is hardly defending borders

14 posted on 02/05/2004 9:44:31 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy, and Bush is no conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: from occupied ga
It probably is a fired discard.

Or it found its way off the test range into a San Diego pawn shop via some E-3 stationed at Pendleton who needed beer money.

As I recall it was Bush who proposed the amnesty for illegal aliens. Rewarding criminal border crossing is hardly defending borders

The "amnesty" issue and immigration are not relevant to the story.

15 posted on 02/05/2004 9:48:14 AM PST by Johnny_Cipher (Making hasenfeffer out of bunnyrabbits since 1980)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: knak
They were gonna make a BONG out of it to impress their friends...
16 posted on 02/05/2004 10:11:32 AM PST by MD_Willington_1976
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knak
This is a military weapon and inactive as it is we want to follow up on any leads." "Maybe someone was badly snookered or they already used it, " said Tim Lomperis, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer.

Sounds like all this is, is the TUBE the missle is fired from.
You can buy 'em a some army /navy surplus stores/gun shows for a few bucks
Probably used it for the intimadation factor

17 posted on 02/05/2004 10:40:40 AM PST by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire with meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ken5050
"Obviously, they're gonna launch the MJ over the border using the rocket launcher.."

That sounds like something that a bunch of dopeheads would do!

18 posted on 02/05/2004 10:45:49 AM PST by Destructor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: dts32041
Very interesting, wonder if it came from our allies the frogs or krauts?

"One Mexican federal official said Mexico is awash in weapons smuggled in from the United States."

19 posted on 02/05/2004 11:40:54 AM PST by PRND21
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: knak
I voted for Vicente Fox, how about you?
20 posted on 02/06/2004 12:49:36 AM PST by BurbankKarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson