A Girl and Her Weapons

What's a nice girl like you doing with an arsenal like this? Police seize 20-year-old guarding vast weapons cache... including anti-aircraft gun.

From the archives.
April 2009

Smirking for the camera, this is the 20-year-old woman Mexican police caught guarding an extraordinary arsenal of weapons.

Anahi Beltran Cabrera was seized during a routine patrol in Sonora state, near the U.S. border.

Officers recovered a vast cache of weapons including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 800 shots per minute, five rifles, a grenade and part of a grenade launcher.

They believe the haul belongs to a group allegedly linked to the powerful Beltan Leyva drug cartel.

Cabrera was paraded before the media - along with the weapons she was caught guarding.

The anti-aircraft gun, capable of penetrating armour from more than 5,000ft away and found attached to the top of a SUV, was the first of its type to be seized by Mexican police.

Large swathes of Mexico have been ravaged by violence with drugs gangs battling for territory.

Cartels have increasingly got hold of higher-powered weapons including military-grade arms such as grenades and machine guns.

This has left police outgunned and many officers have quite following attacks.

2,000 soldiers and armed federal police have been deployed into the border town of Ciudad Juarez to restore order to the country's most violent city.

In one month, 250 people were killed by hitmen fighting for lucrative smuggling routes.

They believe the haul belongs to a group allegedly linked to the powerful Beltan Leyva drug cartel.

Cabrera, who was paraded before the media along with the weapons she was caught guarding, is not believed to be related to the clan.

Large swathes of Mexico have been ravaged by violence with drugs gangs battling for territory.

Categories: beltran leyva cartel, organized crime, sicarios