November 27, 2024 — For years, U.S. authorities and fishermen have been complaining about illegal fishing for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico, and now it’s been revealed who is behind the lucrative trade: a Mexican drug cartel.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions Tuesday against members of the Gulf drug cartel, which operates in the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros, across from McAllen and Brownsville, Texas.

While commercial fishing and drug cartels may seem like an unlikely combination, it makes perfect sense for a criminal organization.

The department says the cartel uses fishing boats to facilitate drug and migrant smuggling; along the way, the boats catch tons of red snapper, a commercially valuable but vulnerable species. The boats often launch from Playa Bagdad, east of Matamoros, on the Gulf coast.

“The Gulf Cartel engages in the illicit trade of red snapper and shark species through ‘lancha’ operations based out of Playa Bagdad,” the department said. “Apart from their use for IUU (illegal, unregulated or unreported) fishing in U.S. waters, lanchas are also used to move illicit drugs and migrants into the United States.”

Read the full article at the Associated Press