A cross-border pipeline of stolen vehicles allegedly supplied Mexican cartels with cars and trucks to support their criminal operations, federal authorities say, with 13 people now facing charges in the scheme.
The vehicles were stolen from private owners and major rental car companies before being driven through El Paso, Texas, and across the border into Mexico, where they were allegedly used to support the cartels daily operations, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Texas.
Authorities have recovered 29 vehicles worth an estimated $1.14 million as part of the investigation, dubbed Operation Southbound Takedown, prosecutors said.
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Ryan G. McRae, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said the stolen vehicles reveal a pattern of criminal activity extending beyond auto theft.
“These are not isolated property crimes,” McRae said. “The stolen vehicles related to Operation Southbound Takedown demonstrate an alarming pattern and are used to support the day-to-day operations of dangerous criminal organizations.”
Photos released by prosecutors showed a damaged white SUV recovered in Mexico, as well as an armored black SUV and an armored pickup truck.
Federal agents and prosecutors began investigating in the spring after identifying a pattern of stolen vehicles being transported to individuals allegedly connected to criminal organizations in Mexico, the U.S. attorneys office said.
U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons warned people considering transporting stolen vehicles into Mexico that cartels are exploiting individuals looking to make a “quick buck” to further their criminal operations.
Those operations, he said, include “human smuggling, extortion, drug trafficking, and even murder.”
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“You are now on notice,” Simmons said. “If you provide support to these cartels, many of which have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations, by transporting stolen vehicles out of this country and into Mexico, we will find you, and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”
Of the 13 people charged, 11 are U.S. citizens and two are Mexican citizens, prosecutors said. One of the Mexican citiz
