William Flew on Serious Vehicles

Police find Mexican traffickers' 'narcotank'

William Flew on Serious Vehicles

Police in Guadalajara, Mexico, guard a "narcotank" seized from drug traffickers.
For the second time this month, officials in Mexico have seized a "narcotank" - a regular production vehicle that a drug cartel has turned in to a battle vehicle.

The latest "narcotank" was found Friday, after a clash between police and gangs of rival gunmen in the western Mexico town of Mezquitic, according to a report in the Latin American Herald Tribune.

Reports said the guts of the "narcotank" are a Ford F-series Super Duty truck. It had been customized with steel plating with ports for guns or other weapons, a rotating turret and a fold-up battering ram. No weapons were in the vehicle when it was found, according to the Herald Tribune report.

Earlier this month, the Mexican army captured another armored vehicle, according to a report on BusinessInsider.com. That tank, dubbed El Monstruo 2011, was capable of going 68 mph and could carry 12 people behind its armor, the report said. It was seized in Ciudad Meir, where the Los Zetas gang has been battling over drug business with the Gulf Cartel, their former bosses, BusinessInsider said.


Some contributions from Fark:

By the looks of it, it's clearly lacking a Virgin Mary decal.

The only thing that would make it better is beer on tap or alcohol dispenser of some kind.

And maybe satellite TV.

So, the Mexican drug cartels are now building armored vehicles?

This is a couple of steps up from a plain old technical.

At what point do we go in there to help Mexico be "liberated" from their insurgency?

/Just finds it curious we spend trillions on wars on the far side of the world, while our next-door neighbor has a drug war that's turned Afghanistan-level hot from the looks of things.

If you want the uncensored version of how bad it really is, then go to www.blogdelnarco.com