Featured Image Credit: Guardia Nacional
Topics: Drugs, World News, Twitter
Shola Lee
Mexico's Guardia Nacional in Jalisco have captured a homemade 'narco tank' thought to be used by one of the country's most powerful drug cartels.
The officials shared the news to Twitter after it was found in the area of Jalisco on 12 April.
According to the Mexican police, the vehicle was harbouring 2,000 rounds of ammunition.
The heavy metal plated vehicle is thought to be owned by the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, who operate in the area, as reported by The Star.
Painted green to blend in with surroundings, the tank is heavily armoured, with protective metal casing around the driver's sider.
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Publication Borderland Beat noted that the tank was discovered while being transported inside of a trailer.
The tank isn't the first of its kind, as intense in-fighting brewed among rival cartels, the vehicles were created to improve their ability to move around on the streets without facing attack.
Narco tanks became popular in 2011, with the Mexican military stormed a facility in Los Zetas where the vehicles were being made.
Four tanks were seized, in addition to 23 trucks that were waiting to be modified.
With Mexican officials doubling down on the creation of narco trucks, the practice became more subtle, with the more modern trucks having metal paneling on the inside, so as not to draw attention.
Authorities have been trying to fight the use of these trucks, in addition to the on-going drug war for the past decade, with the Jalisco cartel being one of the most prominent.
In a recent interview with The Washington Post, one family in Mexico recounted an interaction with the Jalisco cartel and their dangerous trucks.
"Our lives changed in a minute," María Jesús Martínez said, as gunmen and 'monster' trucks approached her and her sisters.
The family had spotted the vehicles from across the valley and knowing the trouble the vehicles brought with them, grabbed their children and ran.
The Martínez's experiences aren't a one-off, families across Mexico have been caught in the crosshairs of the drug war for years.
With criminal groups battling for territory, those who call Mexico home are becoming displaced.
According to The Washington Post, as many as 20,000 people have fled violence in the past year in Michoacán state, with thousands of others fleeing from across the region.
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