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Feds find weapons cache near Mexican border

From Terry Frieden
CNN Washington Bureau

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Mexico
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Texas

(CNN) -- A federal task force seized arsenals of illegal weapons and homemade bombs in Laredo, Texas, in connection with a Mexican drug trafficking battle, authorities said Friday.

The feds captured more than 30 homemade bombs, grenade components, assault weapons, silencers, machine gun assembly kits, bulletproof vests, police scanners and cash, Julie Myers, assistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement.

Two of the bombs had been completed and others were under assembly, said officials from the task force that involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI, local authorities and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Authorities said they suspect last month's three seizures in Laredo are associated with the warring Mexican drug cartels called the Federation and the Gulf Cartel.

Officials said they found the weapons in homes during January 12, 26 and 27 searches.

U.S. authorities have said they increasingly fear violence in Mexico will spill over into the United States.

About 170 deaths have been attributed to the cartel battles in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, in the past year, officials said. Nuevo Laredo is across the Rio Grande from Laredo.

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