Monday, March 13, 2017

Small Wars Journal: Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #29

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #29: By Robert J. Bunker and Marisa Mendoza

Vehicular Ramps Used to Bypass Border Fencing, "As borders tighten, smugglers raise their game"

  Photos from Border Patrol-Campo Ca
…Ongoing measures to erect 670 miles of new fence on the border are credited with helping to cut arrests to some 870,000 last year from 1.1 million. Nevertheless, smugglers are trying and, in many cases succeeding, in breaching every kind of barrier thrown in their paths.

Sturdy steel posts have been sunk in the ground in many areas to stop vehicles crossing north, although drug traffickers have responded by building elaborate vehicle ramps to drive cars over the top, border police say.

“It’s like the old show ‘The Dukes of Hazzard,’ cars flying through the air,” said James Jacques, a supervisory Border Patrol in San Diego, Calif.

Illegal border crossers are also routinely beating pedestrian barriers using ladders tailor-made in clandestine Mexican workshops, border police say, while others have used screwdrivers to try to clamber over new 14-foot tall, steel-mesh barriers designed to deny handholds.

One such attempt was foiled. “It took the man a while, and by the time he got to the top, we were waiting for him,” said Andrew Patterson, a Border Patrol agent in Yuma, Arizona…

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. — The recent use of a large folding ramp to allow drug-carrying vehicles to leapfrog the border fence goes to show the ingenuity of the smugglers, says a Mexican police chief in this city. And Federal Preventative Police Commander Gaston Loaiza says drug traffickers will only get more sophisticated and ingenious in their methods of moving their product into the United States and on to users. His comments came days after Border Patrol agents on patrol in the Barry M. Goldwater Range east of Yuma discovered the folding ramp extending over the border fence from a large truck parked on the Mexican side. Agents found the ramp while chasing a Jeep Cherokee that apparently had just used the ramp to carry across 1,000 pounds of marijuana. “We believe that the ramp could have been used previously,” Loiza said, “but it is a sign that there is a lot of drug smuggling activity in that area.” The area is so heavily used by traffickers, he added, that the day after the discovery, Mexican federal police officers arrested two people as they were preparing to cross on foot in same location with a total of 20 kilos of marijuana strapped to their backs. The fence is part of the U.S. government’s efforts over the past decade to fortify the border against alien and drug smuggling through the use of added barriers and surveillance technology and more agents. But Loaiza said the ramp is proof traffickers will not be stopped by the fence and will always seek ways to carry contraband across the border…

It was what appeared to be a midnight smuggling run pitting a Jeep Cherokee versus the 14-foot border fence. The fence won. Suspected smugglers on Tuesday tried to go up and over the barrier at California’s Imperial Sand Dunes on a makeshift ramp, not an uncommon tactic employed by Mexican smugglers since border fencing was erected in the area in recent years. But the Jeep high-centered on the way down, leaving the rear wheels spinning in the air. When U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived minutes later, the vehicle was hanging from the barrier, suspended between Mexico and California. The hatchback of the Jeep was open, leading authorities to believe the suspected smugglers may have somehow retrieved the drugs before fleeing. Their ramp, U.S. Border Patrol authorities said in a statement, was “not quite up to the task.”
 Below:U.S. seeks answers on border security; reporting in Mexico.” Tucson Sentinel. 
Yuma Sector agents pursued a Chevy Tahoe that used ramps to cross a shallow portion of the Colorado River at the U.S.-Mexico border. The two suspects, unable to get the vehicle back over the barrier once they turned back, abandoned it and fled into Mexico on foot. Officers discovered 23 tightly wrapped bricks of marijuana (281 pounds) in the vehicle and followed tire tracks to a second vehicle that was transporting heavy metal ramps like those used to get the Chevy Tahoe over the border barrier.
Who: Although official credit is not being given to any particular cartel for these incidents, the locations and time frames where these modified vehicles and vehicular ramps were found are consistent with Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficking territory.

What: The use of ramps to allow cartel vehicles to scale the U.S. border fence with Mexico.

When: The modified vehicles and ramps were found on multiple occasions between March 2008 and October 2012.

Where: All of the modified vehicles were found on the Mexican side of the border with ramps extended into the U.S. The first truck found in 2008 was located a few yards south of the border near Campo, California. The second truck (2011) was found east of Yuma, Arizona. The Jeep (2012) was abandoned west of the Arizona-California state line in sand dune desert land.

Why: As heightened border control efforts successfully stop more drug loads at high-traffic border crossing checkpoints and additional physical barriers are erected to stop vehicles from driving through the border via the vast desert land, traffickers have had to become more creative. When utilized in areas with less frequent border patrolling, the ramp assists prove to be an at times effective means of delivering truckloads of drugs into the United States undetected.

Analysis: The United States Border Patrol first found a modified pickup truck with elaborate folding ramps by at least March 2008. Once extended, the ramps were used to lift vehicles packed with bales of marijuana over the top of border fencing. When the modified truck was found, the customized extendable ramp was resting on the United States side of the border fence. In April 2011, while chasing a Jeep Cherokee carrying 1,000 pounds of marijuana, Border Patrol agents discovered another modified pick-up truck. The truck’s ramp was extended over the border fence from the Mexican side. The Jeep Cherokee was believed to have just used the ramp to be lifted over the border into the United States. More recently, in October 2012, drug smugglers tried to use a temporary bridge-like structure with extended ramps to lift a Jeep truck over a 14-foot-high border fence just after midnight. The vehicle high-centered on the way down, leaving the rear wheels spinning in the air. Smugglers abandoned the vehicle and fled back into Mexico when agents approached. The truck got stuck on a floating fence that moves with the sand dunes. Each of the modified trucks and their extendable ramps were not overly sophisticated from an engineering perspective. The fielding of these ramps, however, speaks to the creative and innovative thinking of the Sinaloa Cartel that seeks to traffic drugs into the United States. The ramp assists spotlight the weaknesses of border fencing and physical barriers that are either not patrolled or under remote surveillance by U.S. border patrol personnel. With only three vehicles found since 2008, however, the ramp assist method appears to be a little used technique to deliver drug loads undetected into the United States. The opportunity cost of utilizing this method vis-à-vis other more effective over, through, and under the border trafficking methods suggests that is has for the most part been superseded. Note—A variant on this trafficking approach took place in April 2013 when a Chevy Tahoe and another vehicle utilized heavy ramps to cross a fording area of the Colorado River at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Significance: Drug Trafficking, Innovative Technology Use, Over the Border Smuggling, Sinaloa Cartel, U.S.-Mexico Border Fence, Vehicle Ramps


Tim Gaynor, “As border tightens, smugglers raise their game.” Reuters. 10 March 2008, 

Rich Marosi, “Suspected smugglers in Jeep try to jump border, but fence wins.” Los Angeles Times. 31 October 2012,

Cesar Neyoy, “Truckramp shows ingenuity of drug smugglers: police official.” Yuma Sun. 16 April 2011,

Rebekah Zemansky, “U.S.seeks answers on border security; reporting in Mexico.” Tucson Sentinel. 15 April 2013,


  1. Thanks guest reporter. Good read!

    1. Makes me feel like a traitor, but the first time i saw that jeep stranded on top of the fence i could not stop laughing and I felt proud of the mexicans, and there is also the mortars and circus cannon that send pablo escobar's tombstones across the border, I don't do drugs, so it must be real funny.

  2. You guys should post an article on el Cabo's war with el 80 in Cuauhtemoc.

    1. why is la linea infighting

    2. El 80 from Namiquipa is battlteing it out with el Cabo. There's been noumerous gun fights in Rubio, Bachinva and Cuauhtemoc.

    3. Is there any war because of new chihuahua PAN governor's narco-forces against former governor cesar "el capulina" duarte's forces?
      --I remember cesar duarte was one corrupt politicos epn promoted as one of the best examples he could find of
      "new PRI" but they are narcos and murderes and rats and heads of their states.
      Javier Corral may be cleaning HIS state, but making money is job #1 on his way to the presidency, he may need to make #2 even if he makes #1 at the same time, still easier than chewing gum and walking both all at the same time.

  3. Hahaha good old Imperial County

  4. Replies
    1. They are so cool those dunes!You would think you are in the middle of the Sahara!I came across them unexpectedly.What a treat.It can't be fun though in heavy winds.

  5. War gonna start in Coahuila sicarios se CDS arrested in bordertown of Piedras Negras and Acuña.Either CDS moving in on Zs since they cant seem to organize with all the internal fighting or CDN or The Vieja Escuela made a deal or an alliance with CDS also new military base being built in Piedras Negras idk why theyd move into Piedras Negras unless CDS got the military moving in on payroll..whatever it is expect a war. BB is the shit.👍

    1. Why isn't anybody reporting on this? This has been brewing for a while now and these are/were strongholds for zetas. If this is true it will spill into interior of Texas (Dallas, Houston etc...).

    2. Cds will never ally with zetas maybe a truce . respect terretories thats all. JAGL

  6. Unfortunately this will never cease ( narcotics) from reaching the United States of America. Maybe legalizing it will stop all the wasteful spending fighting against it.

    1. Yeah, Americans absolutely love their drugs. Yet, they. Everyone, please ask your senator, governor, and their friends to stop snorting coke.

  7. Like any "security" system (no matter what type) it is designed to allow more time for action. In this example, obviously a fence isn't going to stop everyone, but it will require a lot more preparation/time and it allowed the borde patrol to catch them.

    1. Since the russians inspire the philosophy, it should be a served that Stalin was in charge of the "nationS" on the USSR as minister of the interior and he made WALLS OF DEAD PEOPLE in their own towns, just to show them who was the jefe supremocista and he went on to murder more than 60 million russians after WWII, some from pure hunger by stealing their whole crops and harvests by presidential edict, I AM SURE SOME SURVIVE
      ED BY EATING THE LOSERS. but I would never blame them for their cannibalism...
      On the US, these days, without walmarts full of Hispanic goodies or from american goodies picked by mexicans, something could happen...but let's feed the health insurance vultures first,
      and the military contractors, of course... Putin will need his US armies full of *********** ready...

  8. Any trip to Mexico, with its lack of regulations, or lack of regulatory enforcement, shows the ingenuity of the Mexican people. Now only if they could put it to good use instead drug and alien smuggling.

    1. 3:18 mexicans live on 25 dollars a week minimum wages, not all of them, only the lucky ones that can find a job...
      --I guess they could become more ingenious and learn to live on $0.40 USD a week like the chinese communist labor, AND BECOME BILLIONAIRES, like the chinese...
      --but not all of the "mexicans" are drug traffickers or big mouth philosophers mouthing crap from their little soap box.

  9. One thing is true . A stupid wall will not stem the flow of narcotics entering the United States. The only thing it will create and has transpired is a division of moral issues. Where billions of tax payers money will go to waste to deter drug trafficking.
    Truth is the billions of dollars drugs generate feeds all aspects of life , employments in all sectors of society. I guess a cruel way to control population. Like certain viruses and diseases.
    So government should just legalize it and contribute profits to college education for all.
    Education referring to those credited colleges and not the the pop up Fake schools that offer falsehoods.
    Investing in the future of our youth and old for a better living would be ideal.

    1. And those who wish not to take advantage of higher education ( enlightenment) but proceed to poison the mind . So be it . Choices and the paths we undertake in life definitely defines a better individual.

    2. I see you want to "capture" drug trafficking, corral it with accounting and tax it to have spend money.
      As long as there are profits from drug trafficking problems are not going away, make it the governments business to give drugs away for free or for a small payment for rehab and decriminalize the whole shet.
      Health care problems all over th US is companies want "theirs", and the bulk of "theirs" comes from those that don't get sick, by the time they do get sick, they must pay 5 or 10 times the "premium".
      The want to take over medicare and Medicaid to "privatize" their treasury, same with social security and the USPS, education, the military, prisons, russian oligarchs...BLADDERMIR PUTIN MUST BE BEHIND ALL THIS CRAP.

    3. I do believe that the legalization of narcotics in the US can do tremendous good . Implemented in programs ( education, infrastructures) can ease taxation in the future. Actually rid the taxation with the billions it generates.
      Many feel strong and oppose such government privatization. But let's face reality here . Privatization has begun in many sectors of society. Education, Detentions, infrastructure ( tollway) etc.
      Business here in America has always been robust . Favoring the wealthy and elite. Wife stated it best many years ago, America has always been for sale .
      I know it's a long shot to have such a radical idea come to play. With lobbyists and special interests groups defying it tooth and nail. With revenue at a halt . But would make a bit of sense that this money can benefit people. Like the Medicare, social security.
      Just a thought. Affordable Health Care is a government run program?

  10. Where did you hear or read about cds sicarios entering piedras negras or acuña?

    1. 7:18 I have had luckier dreams, chivis came to see me...

  11. A wall is both a functional barrier as a symbolic one. Burglars can easily defeat fences, locks, dogs, etc. But, we understand that if you break in it becomes a crime. We cannot have a sovereignnation without "effective" barriers...look around most of the world is like that.

    For generations , the southern border has been a joke and a money mill for smugglers of people, drugs, and many other things.

    I am for building the "wall" as a technological marvel that includes light and motion sensors, robots, drones, cameras, moats, fences, walls, etc.

    I would also do "internal" detect, capture, and deport using biometric and socio metric computerized algorithms. To this I would have all legitimate people wear ID chips that are full proof. Finally, every single job will be done by ,citizens or authorized persons. Visas will have foolproof safeguards.
    Penalties will be harsh and immediate.

    The above will make the USA a police State is well on its way....especially now with Islam making moves to dominate the USA.

  12. 10:19 Heheheee in the mane of security, the US could/should be making friends and associates, instead of enemies and slave nations governed by US gorilla puppets.
    If instead of spending billions of dollars in drone bombings the US spent 1 billion in actually improving it victims lives they would not be so easily brainwashed into being terrorists, What the US nedeed and still needs a fence around washington DC, to keep the mosquitos and the CROOK-O-DILS AWAY

    1. Make love not war,
      Chivis is taken.

  13. All laughable attempts at control. If they close the border with drones the narcos will use submarines or go thru canada etc etc etc. Its the biggest rip off ever perpatrated on the world.


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