In Tijuana, Mexico, Ricardo Rosas Alvarado a member of the elite state police force was shot by assassins carrying Russian AK-47 assault rifles. Alvarado was merely another victim at the hands of these weapons. According to the authorities, these weapons were a brutal example of the firepower possessed by the Mexican drug cartels. They add that the cartels were just warming up.
Two hours after the killing of Ricardo Rosas Alvarado, a small cell of cartel hitmen attacked a federal police office. So none of the officers were killed; however, there was a hail of over one-thousand bullets. This is at one of the world’s busiest border crossings in Mexico. These officers were sent to destroy the gangs that have terrorized the city. The message was clear: “Welcome to Tijuana. Our guns are bigger than your guns.”
They say that United States made weapons were used in the two incidents on September, 24. Authorities estimate that the weapons used in one-hundred percent of drug-related killings are smuggled from the United States. They say the weapons are smuggled into Mexico through the ant trail which is a name given for the stream of people who bring at least two to three weapons across the board everyday.
According to a study by the Mexican government, about two-thousand US weapons enter into Mexico each day. Corrupt officials can earn one-million dollars for helping to smuggle weapons across the border. They add that you can legally buy them at gun shows within the state of Arizona and other border states. It presents a loophole that allows one to stock up on weapons without going through a background check at all.
According to one ATF agent, the drug cartels have the same firepower as the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents. A .38 Special trade from a gun sale in Arizona was used for the 1994 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo.