Cartels like the CJNG (New Generation Jalisco Cartel) display firepower on social media to intimidate rival cartels and Mexican civilians.Photo byEl Huaso / Vanda Felbab-Brown via x.com (Twitter)

A Mexican Cartel just suffered a huge blow at the hands of U.S. Federal Officers in El Paso.

Last Weekend (Saturday, August 17, 2024) Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Officers who are part of an Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team (ATCET) checking southbound buses into Mexico from El Paso at the Bridge of the Americas noticed two drivers on one bus were extremely nervous as they boarded it - and decided to take a closer look at what they were hauling out of Texas.

It's a good thing they did, because - when they checked the luggage compartments - they discovered more than 15 hefty 27-gallon containers - which immediately attracted their attention.

More than 15 large tubs filled with 92,900 rounds of large caliber ammo bound for Mexican cartels by bus seized by U.S. Officers in El Paso.Photo byU.S. Customs & Border Protection

They found enough ammo inside those containers to start a small war: 59,900 rounds of .223 ammunition and 33,000 rounds 7.62 x 39 ammunition (92,900 rounds in all).

If that sounds like a lot of ammunition, you are not mistaken: It amounts to about three times the amount of ammo reported seized by federal agents in El Paso over the last three years combined.

U.S. Customs & Border Protection - El Paso displays seized containers of large-capacity ammunition being smuggled to a Mexican Cartel.Photo byU.S. Customs & Border Protection

All of this firepower is part of what some call the "Iron River" that flows from Texas to Mexico to arm the cartels there. (I have dedicated an entire article to that HERE if you would like to learn more).

What guns & ammo the cartels cannot steal in Texas to arm themselves in Mexico are often bought by straw purchasers at legal gun shows or from unknowing individual sellers - then smuggled south of the border.

Houston Gun Show at the George R. Brown Convention Center (March 2007)Photo byM&R Glasgow - Creative Commons 2.0 Generic/CC BY 2.0 DEED

The ammo involved in this latest seizure offers a glimpse into the weapons Mexican Cartels prefer: .223 ammunition is often paired with an AR-15 rifle while 7.62 x 39 ammunition (which was commonly produced in the former Soviet Union) is often paired with an AK-47.

The bus drivers were both citizens of Mexico. They were turned over to Homeland Security Investigations and will face charges related to the failed smuggling attempt. CBP also seized the bus.

How concerned are you about Texas gun-running schemes that are arming the Mexican Cartels?

Share your opinion in the comments on this article!

For more stories like this "Follow Me" on the Newsbreak App and "Like" this article to stay up to date on immigration and border security issues regularly covered by Jack Beavers on Newsbreak like these:

• Texas Border: Cartels Recruit U.S. Soldiers as Smugglers
• Migrant Terror Arrests at Southern Border
• Mexican Cartel's Brazen "Texas Operation"
• Texas Border Drug Seizure Breaks Record
• Texas Border: Migrants by Planeload & Truckloads

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