To avoid discovery, Mexican drug cartels have been using encrypted DIY radio networks, in nearly all 31 Mexican states, since 2006. Their communication devices are “‘professional-grade’ radio antennas, signal relays and simple handheld radios that ‘cost millions of dollars.’” Mexican authorities have not been successful in stopping their wireless communication.
The Zetas, one of the prominent gangs, were “born out of” the Mexican Special Forces. Their bosses only communicate via internet while the radio is for “lookouts and lower-level players.” They divide up the territory to establish networks, and the “plaza boss has the responsibility for establishing nodes on the network – getting antennas into place, concealing them as necessary, making sure the signal-boosting repeaters extend the network’s reach, equipping cartel personnel with hand-held radios, and replacing security forces destroy.” They use this system for early warnings, where lookouts send messages when police are coming through.
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