FBI WARNS MEXICO AGENTS ABOUT PLOTS

McALLEN, Texas - An already tense situation along the border worsened
Saturday amid an internal FBI memo warning that a ruthless Mexican drug
cartel could be plotting to kidnap and murder U.S. federal law enforcement
agents.

Although the plot specifically targets two unidentified agents of the FBI,
the bulletin warns that "due to the nature of this immediate threat, all
law enforcement personnel are being cautioned to ensure appropriate
measures are taken as well as to keep a high degree of vigilance," the
bulletin stated.

The threats originate from members of the Osiel Cardenas-Guillen cartel,
the bulletin said, "an extremely violent Mexican drug trafficking
organization commonly referred to as the Gulf Cartel. This cartel is
alleged to have recently assembled over 250 armed men near the Mexican
border town of Matamoros, Tamaulipas" across from Brownsville, Texas.

The gulf cartel has a presence in 13 Mexican states, operating with a
paramilitary arm, integrated from ex-members of the Mexican armed forces
known as the Zetas, who remain loyal to Cardenas, one of the country's most
powerful cartel bosses jailed in a Mexican federal prison.

A "contingent of this group," the bulletin continued, "are believed to have
valid visas and passports, allowing them legal entry into the United
States. It is further implied that once kidnapped in the U.S., these two
agents will be returned to Mexico where they will be killed."

The consequences of this and other recent warnings were evident along the
2,000-mile U.S. border with Mexico, as shoppers again stayed away from
popular border destinations, from Ciudad Juarez to Reynosa.