Texas DPS surveillance plane captures Mexican cartel factions during gun battle near border

An intense gun battle involving factions of a Mexican drug cartel raged across the southern border this week as both groups exchanged gunfire in an area used to smuggle drugs and migrants. 

The gunfight occurred Wednesday in Rio Bravo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, less than a mile away from the Rio Grande, across from Donna, Texas, Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Christopher Olivarez told Fox News Digital. 

The factions fighting were identified as the “scorpions” and the “metros,” he said.  

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“They don’t use typical firearms or rifles. They’re using military-type weapons,” he said. “If someone is close by that (Rio Grande) river, there’s a high probability they could get hit.

“It’s probably one of the most dangerous areas along the border.” 

One video shows what appeared to be an explosive device being thrown from a vehicle. 

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Another shows someone opening fire with a gun near a truck. 

The footage was captured by thermal video from a DPS surveillance aircraft. Gun battles have occurred in the area, Olivarez said, but authorities were never able to capture them on video. 

The Gulf Cartel controls much of the area near where the fighting took place Wednesday, but there have been ongoing battles between Gulf Cartel factions for control of smuggling routes along the border.

“There’s always been cartels. There’s always been gun battles,” Olivarez said. “It’s increasingly more intense now because you have cartels that are fighting each other because they want control.”