Thread by @illicitinv

(1/5) #Exclusive #NuevoLaredo #Tamaulipas #Laredo #Texas In October 2024, U.S. intelligence agents monitoring the communications of a plaza commander from the Cartel del Noreste (CDN) (Former Zetas) in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, intercepted a conversation that triggered national security alarms. The CDN commander was instructing one of his lieutenants by phone to assemble a trusted team to cross into Laredo, Texas, with a high-value shipment arriving from Monterrey the following day... 🧵

(2/5) The shipment was small but extremely valuable. It was to be transported in a camping cooler across the Rio Grande in an inflatable raft, similar to those used by human smugglers to ferry migrants. On the U.S. side, it would be collected by CDN members residing in Texas. A human source informed U.S. agents that the shipment was radioactive material, allegedly being smuggled into the United States on behalf of a Middle Eastern terrorist organization, which had contracted the Cartel del Noreste to carry out the operation for a big payment.

(3/5) Once the shipment arrived in Nuevo Laredo from Monterrey, it was stored in a safe house near the Texas border. Around 15 CDN gunmen guarded the cooler as if it were a treasure. Intelligence agents alerted the U.S. Border Patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety with the specific day and time of the planned radioactive material transport, so they could carry out the seizure and arrests. The CDN hitmen planned to cross the Rio Grande at night, unaware that U.S. border agents had drones in the air monitoring their every move.

(4/5) Silently, the 15 gunmen carried the radioactive cooler into the inflatable raft and began swimming, as shown in this video obtained from an official source. However, midway through the river crossing, they realized U.S. agents were surveilling them and preparing to intercept the shipment and make arrests. The leader of the group ordered the men to turn back and return the raft to the Mexican side.

(5/5) In the end, U.S. agents were unable to seize the radioactive cooler or make any arrests. The CDN lieutenant tasked with leading the operation—who can be seen swimming in this photo—was found decapitated the following day in Nuevo Laredo. The agent who provided us with the videos and details of this operation requested that we not publish the names of the CDN members involved, as the investigation remains ongoing.