Cartel may use FBI or DEA body armor

Houston Chronicle:

Mexican drug traffickers could be disguising themselves as U.S. federal agents to trick their rivals, a new law-enforcement advisory indicates.

Mexico’s Gulf Cartel may have 40 bullet-proof vests emblazoned with “FBI” and “DEA,” according to the advisory, which is circulating among local, state and federal law officers this week.

Baseball caps and T-shirts with the agencies’ names have long been a fad among everyday citizens, but ballistic armor raises the stakes and concerns, officials said.

“It is believed the Gulf Cartel intended to use the vests as a distraction while they were conducting enforcement activities against their victims,” reads the advisory from an FBI intelligence coordinator.

...

“We know the traffickers wear ballistic vests, there is no doubt about it,” he said. “But with them saying FBI or DEA on it; we don’t know what they are going to use them for,” he said of the prospect of cartel members wearing the vests.

“We don’t know if they are using them in home invasions on this side (of the border) or will use them on the south side of border to throw off any military or law enforcement action.”

...

It appears to be another tactic they have copied from the Islamic religious bigots in Iraq and elsewhere. It is one that could cause some confusion but should be easily defeated in agents add distinctive additions right before a raid.