Reply #25: Right and they also buy all their hand grenades, rocket launchers

[spin]

and anti-aircraft guns from local gun stores.

'Powerful and lethal'

As they have gained strength, traffickers have been taking on the weaponry to maintain it. Cartel weapons are "increasingly more powerful and lethal," the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a June report.

Five rocket launchers, 271 grenades, 2,932 assault rifles, a submarine loaded with cocaine, and an anti-aircraft gun were all seized by Mexican authorities between March 2008 and August 2009.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-02-10-mexico-cartels_N.htm

U.S. Embassy Cables: 90 Percent of Mexican Drug Cartels' Most Lethal Weapons Come From Central America--Not USA
Friday, April 01, 2011
By Edwin Mora

(CNSNews.com) -- The most lethal weapons used by drug cartels in Mexico are smuggled from Central America, not from the United States, according to U.S. Embassy cables unveiled by WikiLeaks, reported La Jornada, a leading newspaper in Mexico City.

***snip***

The cables from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City to the State Department in Washington, D.C., reported that lethal weapons, including anti-tank firearms and grenades, were stolen from military forces in Central America and then smuggled into Mexico through the Guatemala border, reported La Jornada on Mar. 29.

***snip***

Drug cartels are increasingly demanding military-style arms such as grenades and light anti-tank weapons, in addition to guns that penetrate bullet-proof vests known as “cop killers” in Mexico, according to one cable.

Among the high-powered artillery that Mexican authorities were able to confiscate from drug cartels, 90 percent came from arsenals of armies in Central America, stated the the U.S. Embassy.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/us-embassy-cables-90-percent-most-lethal