Agents find weapons, rocket launcher near Rio Grande
MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Border Patrol agents found a rocket launcher, assault rifles and explosives near the Rio Grande river in Texas, the agency said on Wednesday, a discovery that suggests a link to Mexico's drug wars.
Agents found the weapons on Tuesday in a black bag along a quiet stretch of the Rio Grande near Fronton
The weapons are similar to those reported used in the borderland drug wars and smuggled south from the U.S. into Mexico, and were found in an area of the river that is easily crossed and close to a Mexican cartel battleground.
Officials theorized that the guns were waiting to be smuggled across the border into Mexico, but said that was just speculation.
"Based on past cases and current events, it appears they were intended to go south," said Daniel Milian, Border Patrol spokesman for the Rio Grande Valley sector. "But at this point, we couldn't confirm what the motive was behind it."
Inside the bag were six assault rifles, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, 20 ammunition magazines for various-sized weapons and three packages of what appeared to be C-4 plastic explosives, a Border Patrol news release said.
