• SHOOTING: Tamaulipas state police in the border city of Nuevo Laredo engaged in a violent shooting Sunday with members of the Cartel del Noreste (CDN) resulting in one officer killed along with a key cartel operative, according to government sources.
• TROOPS: Suspected to be the leader of CDN’s so-called Hell’s Troops, Hugo Alejandro Salcido, aka Pin Pon, was one of the most sought-after targets in a most-wanted list prepared by the Government of Tamaulipas in partnership with US federal authorities.
• US VIEW: The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says that CDN is one of several remnant factions of the once powerful Los Zetas drug trafficking organization. The CDN’s leader is Juan Gerardo Treviño-Chávez, aka El Huevo, a relative of the former Los Zetas leaders.
• KILLINGS: Since at least 2018, the so-called Hell’s Troops have been responsible of several violent incidents along the Tamaulipas border with Texas including attacks against state police. Non-governmental organization Causa en Común has counted 7 state police officers killed this year.
