Reynosa, Tamaulipas: Police Are Under Fire

 "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat 

The attackers were traveling in two vehicles. They abandoned the Honda vehicle with arsenal near the La Blanquita community and escape.

After opening fire on state police, the attackers in two vehicles abandoned a van with weapons, magazines, accessories and ballistic vests on a dirt road that leads to the La Blanquita community.

After being the target of gunfire, elements of the State Police seized a van with an arsenal, which was abandoned by armed criminals to the west of the city.

It was last Thursday afternoon when state authorities participated in an armed aggression in the ''El Becerro'' dirt track, but the official version was released just yesterday.

The armed subjects who were traveling in two units, a blue Honda, and a white compact vehicle, escaped between the surrounding dirt roads.

Then the men so far unidentified, abandoned the Honda van, with magazines, accessories and ballistic vests, on a dirt road that leads to the La Blanquita community.

The authorities secured the area and made tours in search of the attackers, but the perpetrators managed to escape towards an unknown destination.

The police ran the plates of the Honda van in the Plataforma México system and it came back as being stolen.

The authorities requested the intervention of a tow truck to transfer the van and its arsenal to the Integral Justice Center in the Puerta del Sol neighborhood.

VIOLENT WAVE

In recent days there have been some diverse situations in the city where several armed men have been arrested and several units and weapons have been seized.

Last Monday, June 28, an armed criminal cell aboard vehicles launched an armed counterattack in the city of Reynosa and opened fire on elements of the National Guard and the Special Operations Group (Gopes), two days after the coup struck by elite state police that dismantled the criminal structure operating in the municipality of Río Bravo.

The first confrontation took place that day at 10:00 a.m. in the Corrales community, north of the Las Nopaleras neighborhood, in the vicinity of the Reynosa-Pharr international bridge, an area under violent dispute between organized crime cells of Matamoros, Río Bravo and Matamoros.

This nerve center, also adjacent to the Rio Bravo, is being used by criminal groups for the crossing of drugs and migrants to the United States.

In this incident, a soldier was injured when he rushed towards the road from a high-speed unit during the pursuit and exchange of fire.

After the events, the attackers managed to escape running into the wooded area, but they left two long weapons thrown away that were secured by the military who deployed a strong operation by air in a helicopter and by land with at least a dozen patrols, in addition to other units of the State Police that joined the support.

FAILED ESCAPE

On the afternoon of the same day, a chase between agents of the Special Operations Group (GOPES) and armed individuals on board vehicles left a seized car and at least three alleged criminals arrested.

The events occurred around 5:20 p.m., when agents detected suspicious vehicles in the Rio Bravo-Reynosa bypass, heading west.

When trying to escape, the armed individuals took the Thousand Summits Boulevard, in the Las Cumbres neighborhood, causing panic among drivers and passerby.

The chase divided the caravan of armed men, but two Sand Cat (monster type) units of the GOPES followed a white Minivan type car to the Cumbres neighborhood.

As they circulated at full speed, the armed individuals crashed into a pole on Fourth and Zaragoza streets in the aforementioned colony. GOPES elements received support from military units that also walked through the area on surveillance routes.

While agents were arresting at least three subjects, who descended from the unit surrendering, the car began to catch fire, so they requested help from firefighters.

ANOTHER AGGRESSION IN LOMA REAL

In another attack, yesterday afternoon while carrying out security and surveillance work, elements of the State Police were shot by unidentified subjects who managed to escape aboard a white van, no injured officers were reported.

The events were recorded around 4:00 p.m. this Friday on Loma Real Street, in the Loma Real neighborhood, also to the west of the city.

According to the official report, the state elements were making a tour when four men with weapons began to shoot at them with large caliber weapons while traveling aboard a white Kia van. Then the officers repelled the aggression and chased them into the neighborhood.

The aggressors began to disperse caltrops onto the road and managed to escape towards the dirt roads located in the northern end of the sector. The authorities did not report elements injured in the aggression.

Inside the Honda van, the authorities would secure magazines, accessories and ballistic vests.

State authorities seized the van with an arsenal in the El Becerro dirt road.

El Mañana