Video of Men Wearing Jackets Reading "DEA" in a Confrontation with Hitmen in Tijuana, Alleged To Be Fake

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A video appeared on social media which shows three men wearing jackets with the letters "DEA" forcing a number of men to surrender. A Twitter user claimed that the video shows US DEA agents arresting Mexican citizens  in Tijuana, in Baja California. 

Almost immediately there were claims of the footage being fake. No Mexican news agency has deemed the claims credible enough to cover, possibly due to some discrepancies with the men's appearance which draw into question the authenticity of the claim. 

The Video

At 2:55 pm on October 23, 2022, the twitter user Pablo Perito uploaded the following video.

He captioned the video with “No, it's not Texas, it's Tijuana, the DEA making arrests in Mexico? Well, at least someone is working for security and it's neither the Mexican Army nor the National Guard!” 

After the video was posted, there were accusations of the footage being fake, or rather that the claims made about the footage were fake.

Some online allege the footage does not show actual US DEA agents, but instead shows men who are merely wearing costumes.

If these are costumes, then there are two main possibilities:

1. The video does not show a real abduction. It is just a bunch of guys, who know they are being filmed, acting out a scene. The video could have been filmed in order to drum up controversy, to bolster a political agenda, or simply to gain views/new Twitter followers. 
2. The video shows a real abduction and the men in the costumes are actually cartel hitmen impersonating DEA agents. 

Now, cartel hitmen are regularly caught with fake uniforms for Mexican law enforcement agencies and do sometimes impersonate members of law enforcement. 

Just earlier this year cartel hitmen were caught on video abducting a man in Mexicali, Baja California, while wearing state Attorney General’s Office (FGE) uniforms. The hitmen attempted to impersonate FGE agents and disguised their abduction as an arrest. The man they took was found dead the next day, with injuries consistent with torture. For more details, please see this previous story.

Some Obvious Discrepancies

In the video, the "agents" appear to have been driving a vehicle similar to a Dodge Challenger. The Dodge Challenger is a muscle car that is not known to be widely used by law enforcement agencies.

And then there is the clothing that the men appear to be wearing. The white sole sneakers that the man in the brown cap is seen wearing don't appear to match the normal attire of an agent but exact regulations about footwear couldn't be found online. 

There are a number of interesting discrepancies between the windbreaker seen in the footage and some of the actual jackets worn by DEA agents.

Source

It's worth noting from the outset that there are many variations of real DEA jackets. Based on photos, these variations appear to usually denote a specific division, or a team's role relative to the agency.

In the video, the jacket appears to show three white serif letters centered on the back. This jacket variation has been photographed many times during verified DEA arrests, so let's review some photos of the authentic jacket, looking for distinguishing characteristics.

Source

Source - Back, Front

Source

The two features that seem the easiest to spot from a distance are the yellow badge patch on their left side and a white serif-version of the letters on their right on the front of the jacket. 

Of note, it's not hard to come by a fake uniform. The Internet is, in fact, replete with fake DEA jackets. 

Just one Google search and you can find versions on online retailer sites, Ebay, Amazon, Etsy and movie costume stores. Most of the versions that you can find online of the white serif lettering version of the jacket lack the yellow badge patch.

In the video, the only man who turns towards the camera in a way where we can fully see the front of the jacket is the man in the brown cap. The front of his jacket appears to have nothing on his left side. There may be something on his right side that's hard to make out, but regardless of what it is, it's placement is not consistent with the insignia  placement of an authentic jacket. 

Recent Tensions Over DEA Agents in Mexico

Now, to be clear, there are US DEA agents currently working in Mexico. Over the last few years there have been a number of high profile moves which may indicate a growing tension between the Mexican federal government and the US law enforcement agency. 

The plane was stored in the Federal Attorney General's Office's (FGR's) hangar at the Toluca airport, in Mexico when it was not in use. The new rule stipulated that the agency had to submit a written request to use the runway two weeks prior to any flight. According to Reuters, this stagnated the plane's use because of the nature of the operations it was used in required "flexibility and speed". 

In April 2021, President Lopez Obrador’s administration informed the DEA that they would be shutting down Mexico’s Sensitive Investigative Unit (SIU), who acted as the main conduit for the DEA to share leads with the Mexican government on drug shipments and tips they obtained on US soil, according to Reuters. 

The President stated he made the decision because the SIU had allegedly become infiltrated by organized crime moles. 

In December 2021, local media reported that Mexico had ceased approving DEA agents' applications for visas to work in Mexico. Later, the US ambassador Ken Salazar confirmed that the US was currently negotiating with Mexico to get visas for DEA agents. 

In May 2022, the Mexican government rescinded the parking space for the DEA's plane within the FGR's hangar, as covered in this previous story. 

In July 2022, the DEA released a statement which indicated they were involved in the arrest of Rafael Caro Quintero.

Then, during a press conference, President Lopez Obrador told reporters that the DEA was not involved in the arrest. Shortly after the President's statement, the DEA removed the link to their statement from their website. 

Keeping in mind this history between the two countries, is it likely that a government agency would allow three agents to drive around Tijuana in a Dodge Challenger, arresting Mexican citizens in public spaces, completely unaccompanied by their Mexican law enforcement counterparts? 

It is worth noting that no national newspapers, such as Milenio, El Sol, or El Universal, have deemed the claims by Pablo Pedrito credible enough to be worth covering in an article. 

Nor have any local newspapers, such as Zeta Tijuana or AFN Tijuana, deemed his claims credible enough to be worth covering.

Real Jacket Photo Sources: US 2010, Guatemala 2012, US 2021 Source - Back, Front, Kenya 2021

Sources: Pablo Perito, Border Report, Reuters, El Pais