Mexico's cartels build own national radio system

[scannerfreak]

MEXICO CITY (AP) — When convoys of soldiers or federal police move through the scrubland of northern Mexico, the Zetas drug cartel knows they are coming. The alert goes out from a taxi driver or a street vendor, equipped with a high-end handheld radio and paid to work as a lookout known as a "halcon," or hawk.

The network allowed Zetas operatives to conduct encrypted conversations without depending on the official cellphone network, which is relatively easy for authorities to tap into, and in many cases does not reach deep into the Mexican countryside.

Mexico's cartels build own national radio system - Yahoo! News

 

[scannerfreak]

Discussion ongoing here:

http://forums.radioreference.com/me...an-army-dismantles-gangs-antennas-radios.html