Soldiers dismantle telecom network used by Mexican traffickers

Comment: Hopefully this is the lead into a major operation to put the cartels on the run. Over the weekend, a group of hackers threatened to expose cartel members, as well as local and authorities colluding with cartel activities.

Excerpt:

Soldiers dismantle telecom network used by Mexican traffickers

Published October 31, 2011

Mexico City - Soldiers seized communications equipment being used by drug traffickers in Reynosa, a border city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, the army said.
The telecommunications gear was seized on Oct. 11 and Oct. 25 by army patrols, the 4th Military Region command said, without identifying the criminal organization operating the network.

A total of 21 antennas, 22 repeaters, 18 duplexers, eight filters and three transceivers were seized.

The telecom network was dismantled as part of the government's "Operation Northeast" targeting drug traffickers and other organized crime groups, the army said.

Marines dismantled an encrypted communications network last month being used by the Los Zetas drug cartel in 10 cities in the Gulf state of Veracruz.

The network employed 12 antennas, computers, radio transmitters, scanners, thousands of feet of cable, cell phones, decoders and solar panels.

The Gulf cartel and Los Zetas have been waging a brutal turf war in Tamaulipas that has left hundreds of people dead since last year.

The two drug trafficking organizations are trying to gain control of smuggling routes into the United States.

...

A total of 15,270 people died in drug-related violence in Mexico last year, and more than 40,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the country's cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

Source:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/10/31/soldiers-dismantle-telecom-network-used-by-mexican-traffickers/