BY MICHAEL WEBSTER: Syndicated Investigative Reporter Dec 17, 2008 at 4:00 PM PST.

 

Early this month U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Tucson, Ariz. sector and agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were again fired upon with what appeared to be military type automatic weapons by Mexican drug smugglers dressed in military garb. Agents after observing a Flatbed tow truck on the Mexican side of the U.S. Mexican border backed up to the new international border fence. According to witnesses the tow truck backed up on a newly constructed earthen dirt berm which put the truck almost even with the height of the fence. The tow truck operator slowly unloaded two trucks laden with marijuana over the 18 ft. high fence to the U.S. side of the border. The entire episode was caught on the remote camera surveillance system and watched by U.S. predator and National Guard camera operators who were able to coordinate Border Patrol field agents to the scene. Shortly after arriving several Border Patrol agents came under fire after chasing and stopping the drug smugglers two vehicles near Douglas, Ariz.

 

According to the Border Patrol, agents observed two large trucks, a Chevrolet Avalanche and a Ford F150 using the tow truck ramp to cross over the border fence. While using a remote camera surveillance system, camera operators were able to coordinate field agents to intercept the trucks. As agents got close, the trucks turned south and attempted to flee back to the border. Agents were able to deploy a tire deflation device and successfully deflated the tires of both trucks stopping them just north of the international boundary fence. A third vehicle was spotted south of the border fence where a subject was observed firing an automatic rifle in the direction of the agents. Several additional subjects with weapons were seen climbing over the fence and they began unloading marijuana from the Chevy Avalanche. The individuals were seen throwing numerous bundles of marijuana back into Mexico. As agents were able to form a security perimeter around the Ford F150, the smugglers set fire to the Avalanche and absconded back into Mexico. Agents were able to secure the Ford F150 and inside the vehicle they discovered 1,158 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of million.

Registration checks were run on the Ford F150 and agents discovered the vehicle was reported stolen out of Douglas, Ariz. Mexican law enforcement was contacted but at this time no arrests have been made or expected.

An official close to the investigation tells the Laguna Journal that agents did not return fire when they were fired upon. Later an agent who wants to remain anonymous says many Border Patrol agents are fearful of losing there job or worse being arrested should they return fire particularly since the Ramos and Compean case. “These men are still in prison for doing what many of us think was just doing their jobs as Border Patrol Agents.

Ex-Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean

In a similar incident last month Border Patrol agents from the San Diego sector seized nearly a ton of marijuana and seized two vehicles after agents spotted two vehicles jump over the border fence also using a ramp system, five miles east of Tecate, Calif.

San Diego Chief Patrol Agent Michael J. Fisher commented, “This significant drug seizure exemplifies smugglers’ disregard for our laws and the safety of the general public. The Border Patrol’s mission includes securing our Nation’s borders and preventing dangerous drugs from reaching our streets.”

 Mexican solders on the U.S. side of the Border.

In the past the Laguna Journal reported locals said they have witnessed, not far from this tow truck incident on the Mexican side of the border a big yellow crane that they refer to as a cherry picker it was seen lifting several vehicles, one at a time up and over the fence and put down gently on the American side. These witnesses say they believe those vehicles were loaded with drugs. There are also many reports from locals seeing armed Mexican solders operating on both sides of the international border and they believe the Mexican army is being used by the Mexican drug cartels to escort and protect drug runners, human smugglers and gun runners and they say they have reported these activities to the authorities.

There are many reports of Mexican troops being spotted on our side of the border and just as many we never hear of. Seven members of the Mexican military were found inside the United States recently, telling border agents they had become disoriented while on patrol and accidentally crossed into the country, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said.

The incident began when the Border Patrol's Yuma, Arizona, sector was notified that a military-style Hummer was broken down, Customs and Border Patrol said in a written statement.

Agents said they found the vehicle about 200 yards from the Colorado River, and the seven individuals were dressed in military-style clothing. Customs and Border Patrol later determined that the troops' entry was unauthorized.

U.S. agents told the Mexican troops they were inside the United States and took them into custody, the statement said.

"This is not an uncommon occurrence," Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, said, "Often times, it is the result of the Mexican military providing cover essentially for drug transportation across into our country, and/or creating a diversion so it will draw our people away from the place where the drugs are coming across."

In August, the Border Patrol said Mexican troops had crossed the border illegally 42 times since October 2007.

Tancredo said the U.S. State Department lodged a complaint with the Mexican government for the first time over these and other military incursions. Attempts where made by this reporter to contact the State Department and the Mexican government those efforts were unsuccessful. Nor did they return our calls.

Secretary Michael Chertoff said last month that attacks on agents were an "unhappy" consequence of heightened enforcement. According to the latest figures available the Border Patrol said its agents were attacked 1,097 times during the fiscal year that ended in September, 2008 an 11 percent increase from the record 987 a year earlier.

The mostly uninformed U.S. public about the escalating levels of military incursions into the U.S. and the violence associated with warring Mexican drug cartels in Mexico and along our border is alarming.

Joan Lopez a Deming resident said, “Most people have a notion of what's going on from an occasional headline in the mainstream newspapers, short sporadic newscasts on network television, and even Hollywood movies like "No Country for Old Men." But I believe most of the ongoing coverage is done by freelance reporters and some local news media”.

As reported earlier this year in the Laguna Journal the explanations for the void of information on a national scale is believed at least partly because of the cozy relationship between the Bush and Caldron administrations. Both governments filter the information that is made available to the public, some call it diplomatic courtesy.

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Watch how Mexican troops found their way in the United States »

Mexican Soldiers Crossing Into The United States

Drug smugglers disguised as Mexican soldiers arrested