BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ It was nearly two years ago. Mexican soldiers acting on what they said was an anonymous tip seized more than 11 tons of cocaine being unloaded by Gulf Cartel members at a warehouse near the Gulf coastal city Tampico.
At the time, Mexican media reported it was the country's largest cocaine seizure to date.
But it's now been revealed that authorities were monitoring phone conversations for months among the cartel members organizing that cocaine shipment from Colombia. That's according to documents filed in federal court in Washington last month in a case against
19 high-ranking members of the Gulf Cartel and its one-time enforcement arm the Zetas.
The bust was a big score for Mexican President Felipe Calderon's cartel crackdown and evidence of the cooperation between anti-drug efforts in the U.S. and Mexico.
The seizure infuriated the cartel, pushing Zeta member Alfredo Rangel Buendia to threaten death for any investors in the load who failed to pay their share within 72 hours.
Stephen Meiners is a Latin America analyst with the global intelligence company Stratfor. He says about 18 months ago, there was a significant fracture in the Gulf Cartel-Zeta relationship as the Zetas began working more independently. He says some even speculate that the Gulf Cartel is working for the Zetas now.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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