Mexico police dismantle video cameras installed by gang
18 June 2015
From the section Latin America & Caribbean
It is the second time in less than a month that gangs installed surveillance cameras
Police in the Mexican city of Reynosa in north-eastern state Tamaulipas state have dismantled 39 surveillance video cameras installed by a local gang.
Officers said they surprised two people attaching a camera to a post in a city street on Wednesday evening.
The two said they were acting on the orders of a criminal gang, which uses the cameras to monitor the movements of the security forces.
Reynosa is racked by violence, with two drug cartels vying for control.
The two suspects took officers to the locations of the other 37 cameras they had already installed.
They had been put up at key street crossings in the city, at shopping centres and in residential areas.
Officials did not say which gang was behind the installation.
It is not the first time police have come across gangs installing surveillance cameras.
On 22 May, a day after President Enrique Pena Nieto visited the city, they removed another 39 such devices.
Reynosa, which is across the border from the Texan city of McAllen, is being fought over by the Zetas and Gulf cartels.
Both gangs have been fighting for control of the region, regarded as a strategic commercial entry point into the US.
