MEXICO CITY - The President of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, announced the discovery of 213 M90 antitank grenades, he said, were stolen from the Army and apparently were intended to Mexican cartel Los Zetas.
"All we know is that these weapons, as weapons of war, were destined for the Los Zetas" through a Salvadoran drug gang recently dismantled, Saca said.
According to a news release released by the agency EFE, Funes said that it is likely that military or former military may be involved in the incident, "because somehow these weapons were taken from the Armed Forces."
The Salvadoran gang, Texis cartel he said, operated in the northwest region in Texistepeque, where last Tuesday, October 8, police and prosecutors found an arsenal in an underground storage tank in a house in the area of the Congo, about 50 miles northwest of San Salvador.
Last September the Salvadoran authorities captured somewhere between 12 to twenty Texis cartel members, including its top leaders, "that group is virtually removed, dismantled," said the president.
He added that the weapons were to be sent to Mexico via another network with "some connection with Salvadoran cartels, particularly Texis cartel"
This investigation will clarify how these weapons were going to get there (to Mexico) through which network "with" some connection with Salvadoran cartels, particularly the Texis "he added.
However, he noted that the confiscation in their Central American country is still no guarantee that the Mexican cartels, particularly the Zetas cartel are operating and in El Salvador.
He warned: "All those involved in the operation of theft of these weapons of war from the armed forces in order to take them to a Mexican drug cartel (...) will be caught, will be prosecuted according to law."
The Los Zetas cartel is identified as one of the most bloodthirsty criminal groups in Mexico, also operates in some Central American countries. Consulted by El Universal, Lieutenant Colonel Luis Viera Santamaria, spokesman for the El Salvadorean Armed Forces said, "...that information from the investigation might point to Los Zetas as an organization that can use this material or might have an interest in it by the very nature of their structure allows them to make use of these grenades."
"not just any group can use them,"he said, alluding to the military origin of los Zetas as structure created by former members of the Mexican Army. "It is a war material for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces
Viera continued, "The Attorney General of El Salvador requested assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tabaco and Firearms (ATF), a Federal institution in the United States to determine the source of the weapons. The prosecution has asked the ATF to collaborate to determine both source and to help investigate in determining who would be the target."
ElUniversal, Lavoz
