Mexican Army takes over customs on US border

[ensho]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jYAvvuNiFX541JmKEjHei6YATbgQ


Mexico's Army took control of customs Sunday on the busy US border, as federal authorities pulled agents off the job in a massive anti-corruption shakeup, officials told AFP.

An Interior Ministry official said the dismissals were being carried out at all Mexican border facilities, and that the customs agents were being replaced.

Customs agents were sacked after some were found to be linked to contraband operations, according to sources at the ministry.

Agents in Nuevo Laredo, on the border with the southern US state of Texas, were called in Saturday to be told they were fired, and to hand in their badges and weapons. A total of 1,100 agents were sacked, Mexican media said.

-snip-

Mexico is in the midst of a raging war on organized crime, and has expressed serious concern about US weapons crossing into the country.

-snip-

The Obama administration has acknowledged the US role in the violence, pledging to stem the flow of weapons into Mexico and curb demand for drugs in the United States, one of the world's top cocaine consumers.
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Obama and team can stem the flow of weapons but only decrim of drugs will change that particular problem.

[glitch]

1. Holey moley, that's gonna shake things up! K & R nt

[rd_kent]

2. And the Mexican army is less corrupt?

[slackmaster]

3. No more or less corrupt than the "agents" they are replacing

And probably better trained at searching for weapons and such.

[ensho]

5. I was thinking the same thing

perhaps corrupt in different ways?

[TheWraith]

7. Nope. Not in the least.

In fact, the Mexican Army is the source for a lot of those weapons. You can't buy fully automatic rifles in the US except on military or police contracts, but they've been seizing full auto M4s in the short-barreled rifle configuration (which makes them doubly illegal here) in raids in Mexico. The only way those particular weapons get there is by way of the Mexican Army.

[sharp_stick]

4. Man am I glad I don't have to cross that border anytime soon

it's bad enough at the best of times, can you imagine how ugly it's going to be now.

[TheWraith]

6. A bullshit feel-good measure on their part.

The Mexican Army is itself the source of a lot of those weapons--the full-auto short-barrel M4s and grenade launchers you can't get in the US except via a military or law enforcement contract.