Texas Border: Feds Target Cartel Fleet Off Padre Island
Small boats are a big source of smuggling & illegal fishing in Gulf of Mexico
A cat-and-mouse game between Mexican smugglers, illegal fishermen, and the U.S. authorities is underway most nights in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast. The epicenter of this ongoing battle is Padre Island - and a small boat called a "lancha" is the object of these nightly hunts.
Lanchas are 20-30 foot boats powered by outboard motors that can zip through the water at more than thirty miles an hour. With their slender profiles, white hulls, and blue interiors they blend into the gulf waves at night making them hard to see. In the hands of an experienced captain, they can be tough to catch.
The US Treasury Department has now linked them to Mexico's Gulf Cartel and singled out five cartel member for sanctions - and outlined their operations in a news release issued this week.
When the Cartel's lanchas are intercepted, it is often while they are reeling in large amounts of illegally caught fish in Texas waters.
They fish illegally for Red Snapper in Texas waters due to overfishing in Mexican waters - something authorities are trying to prevent from happening here.
A good night of clandestine fishing in Texas waters can earn Mexican fishermen catches worth several thousand dollars per boat. But Gulf Cartel lancha crews - known as "lancheros" also often make their money as smugglers.
Border Patrol Agents and Texas law enforcement officers regularly find bales of drugs washing ashore on Padre Island. They are tossed overboard from lanchas when Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection boats are spotted to avoid being caught with drugs.
Some cartel lancheros- though - have been caught with their loads. In one notable incident, five lancha smugglers were arrested while unloading hundreds of pounds of pot from their boat into a truck waiting for them in the surf near South Padre Island's "hotel zone" in the middle of the night in 2016.
This week's action by the US Treasury against the five Mexican Gulf Cartel members overseeing these illegal "lancha" activities off the Texas coast will allow federal agents to identify - and seize - any property or other assets they have in the United States.
Should more be done to deter the Gulf Cartel's illegal activities in U.S. waters?
Share your opinion in the comments on this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
