A woman who works in the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office in Mexico is facing money laundering charges after U.S. authorities arrested her allegedly trying to smuggle over 180,000 in cash for the Gulf Cartel, court documents show. The Gulf cartel is one of six groups recently labelled as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the U.S. government.
Officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested Angelica Rodriguez Gonzalez and her boyfriend, Alejandro Alonso Saucedo Garcia, during an operation. Both individuals remain in federal custody on cash smuggling charges. Rodriguez Gonzalez works as support staff in the anti-kidnapping group of the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office in Matamoros. Saucedo is identified as an alleged operator for the Gulf Cartel in Matamoros.
Court documents revealed that the incident began on May 2, when special agents with Homeland Security Investigations were conducting surveillance on a cash smuggling operation based in Brownsville, Texas. The agents observed Rodriguez and Saucedo pull up to a house in a FIAT vehicle.
The agents followed the vehicle as it left the house and made its way toward one of the ports of entry connecting Brownsville and Matamoros. There, CBP officers stopped the FIAT and found various bundles of cash while searching the vehicle. The agents also found $30,000 strapped to Rodriguez’s waist. In total, authorities found $184,095.
During questioning by HSI agents, the woman revealed that she had previously smuggled cash six times for cartel-connected individuals.
In Mexico, government officials remained quiet about Rodriguez’s arrest and the implications of someone working with the anti-kidnapping unit having ties to the Gulf Cartel — the same criminal organization responsible for most of the kidnappings and forced disappearances in northern Tamaulipas.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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