BajaNomad

NarcoNews

Cisco - 6-25-2012 at 01:48 PM

Hoping I am not out of line posting in this section.

Here is an article regarding dangers of narco intervention at airports that I think is timely and Baja related.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Three federal police officers died in a shootout with suspected drug traffickers at Mexico City's airport on Monday, as panicked travelers scrambled to take cover amid the latest sign of encroaching violence in the country's capital.

The police moved to detain drug suspects in the airport's Terminal 2 but were attacked, the security ministry said in a statement. Two agents were killed at the terminal and another died of his injuries after being taken to the hospital.

"When the alleged perpetrators were surrounded by the police, shots were fired against the federal agents," the statement said. A police spokesman said he could not comment when asked if there had been any arrests.

Television footage showed a body lying on the floor in what appeared to be a publicly accessible area of the airport.

More than a dozen shots were heard, prompting many people to seek shelter in fast-food restaurants in the busy facility, Milenio Television reported.

Airport spokesman Jorge Gomez told Milenio that aircraft departures and arrivals continued normally after the incident.

Mexico City has seen relatively low murder rates compared to the rest of the country, where drug violence has killed around 55,000 people in the past five and half years.

But attacks have been creeping into the capital and its surrounding neighborhoods, with more than 300 gangland killings recorded last year.

Mexico's airports and ports are busy areas for drug smugglers. So far this year federal police have seized more than 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of cocaine at the capital's airport, double the amount taken there last year.

http://news.yahoo.com/three-police-die-mexico-city-airport-d...

sancho - 6-25-2012 at 02:27 PM

I don't believe it out of line here, perhaps it's more
of a News item. I run by a Mex TV Channel, they
have a show called Al Extremo, I assume to mean
extreme, they are not shy about showing the aftermath
of Cartel Shootouts. But I'm a firm believer that the
Drug war violence RARELY and only in a very few
instances involves the casual gringo Tourist, sure one
can point to a handful of instances, but from what I've
observed over the last 5 yrs., it just doesn't happen
to the point of altering one's plans of visiting Mex
or changing my opinion of safety SOB

Cisco - 6-25-2012 at 02:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by sancho
I don't believe it out of line here, perhaps it's more
of a News item. I run by a Mex TV Channel, they
have a show called Al Extremo, I assume to mean
extreme, they are not shy about showing the aftermath
of Cartel Shootouts. But I'm a firm believer that the
Drug war violence RARELY and only in a very few
instances involves the casual gringo Tourist, sure one
can point to a handful of instances, but from what I've
observed over the last 5 yrs., it just doesn't happen
to the point of altering one's plans of visiting Mex
or changing my opinion of safety SOB



Hope I did not give the impression that we should not visit Mexico, I feel much safer in Baja than I do in San Diego for sure and it would have to be a drastic wrong place/wrong time occurrence to have a narco related incident in my life.

I was interested and amazed at the airport reference. I had not considered commercial airports to be utilized as much by narco people in their trade. Somehow I have always considered trafficking very clandestine.

Personally I refuse to fly out of the U.S. due to the abuses of the security system set up after implementation of the Patriot Act but my kids are flying in and out of Mexico with regularity.