A group of cartel gunmen managed to land an airplane filled with cocaine in southern Mexico before soldiers arrived, setting off a fierce shootout and killing one. The gunmen reportedly used automatic weapons and a .50 caliber rifle.
The shootout took place in Bacalar, Quintana Roo, on Monday near the highway to Merida. The scene was northwest of Chetumal and approximately 200 miles south of Cancun. The gunmen unloaded the plane and were preparing to torch it before authorities arrived.
“This morning there was a shootout in Quintana Roo, a plane with drugs,” said Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during his daily news conference later in the day. “The one heading up the operation was the commander of the zone, he was shot, there was a shootout and they killed his driver and wounded him.”
A news release by Mexico’s Army revealed that shortly after 3:30 a.m., authorities spotted a plane flying from South America and sent out an intercept team. As the troops arrived, the gunmen injured four–including a general leading the operation. One of the soldiers died shortly after the clash.
At the scene of the shootout, authorities also found several canisters of gasoline. Officials seized three rifles, the airplane, and two ground vehicles. Twenty-six bundles of officially unspecified drugs were also found. A subsequent search operation led to the arrests of two suspects with a .50 caliber rifle.
On December 16, cartel smugglers managed to crash-land a Cessna-type plane, unload it, and destroy it in the same Bacalar region, La Silla Rota reported. The airplane was spotted over Belize before entering Mexican airspace.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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