By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
The FBI and ATF have joined the probe in Mexico into a July 15 car bomb in the border town of Juarez that killed three people, the El Paso Times reported. The bomb, made of C-4 plastic, was detonated by cell phone.
It was the first time drug cartels had used a car bomb in Mexico, a disturbing sign in a drug war that appears to be only getting worse.
“The FBI sent a small team to the crime scene to consult with our Mexican counterparts and we have offered them technical assistance with the car bombing,” El Paso FBI Special Agent Andrea Simmons said Sunday, according to the the paper. “We would only be involved if the Mexican government asked for our assistance in some way.”
ATF spokesman Tom Crowley in Dallas said his agency was also assisting, the El Paso Times reported.
“The ATF is providing Mexican officials with help on the technical aspects of the bomb,” Crowley told the paper. “We have provided post-blast training to Mexican law enforcement in the past. It is the same kind of training we give to state and local police in the United States.
“Post-blast involves reconstructing the device used in the explosion so investigators can determine what it was and where it might have come from.”
The paper reported that Mexican authorities said the bombing was the result of officials arresting a lieutenant in the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel.
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