HOUSTON -- Drug Related killings in Mexico continue to escalate, reaching numbers no one could have imagined just six years ago. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, nearly 13,000 were murdered in the first nine months of last year.
And for law enforcement trying to protect this side of the border, these are dangerous times.
“It’s scary. I’m just seeing a lot of drug traffickers getting armed and they are more brazen than before,” said Javier Pena, the new Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Houston.
Pena’s area includes 645 miles of the Texas-Mexico border, as well as 350 miles of the Gulf Coast. He is from Texas and knows the problems the state faces with drugs and violence.
“The solution is we are not going to give up. We are going to go full force. We are going to go after them. We don’t care what they are doing and how many weapons they have. We are always going to have more weapons. We are going to outnumber them,” said Pena.
And with help from the border patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety, the DEA is having success.
“What concerns us is the violence. The violence where innocent people may get hurt because of drug trafficking,” said Pena.
That’s because those trying to move the drugs north through Texas are now heavily armed.
Pena says just look at what happened in November. One group tried to steal a large load of marijuana from another.
“It was in a nice neighborhood. It was at noon, but their attentions were to rob the drugs so they killed the truck driver. This was in the middle of the day. This is the violence that we are seeing,” Pena told KHOU 11 News.
Pena said the most powerful and violent drug cartel is the Zetas. They control a lot of the shipping routes. Some thought they were part of the shootout in November, but Pena doesn’t believe so.
“We’ve seen people with their t-shirts, you know impersonating. In some of our undercover situations a person will portray that he is a Zeta, but he really is not. He is just trying to brag,” Pena said.
Pena grew up in Texas and graduated from Texas A&I in Kingsville. He has been with the DEA for 28 years and has worked in Colombia and California. He has seen all sides of the drug war and says his goal is to keep Texans safe.
