The drug cartels are still a problem in Mexico. Also in other Latin American territories, but Mexico is the country that exemplifies How far they can go These organizations. They are present in segments as lucrative as the avocado culturehis violence It affects tourism And it is so widespread in the Mexican economy that already controls the 13% of products distribution. And nothing exemplifies both its power and influence as a vehicle.
The drug tank.
Narcochapuza. Before entering land vehicles, let’s talk about sailors. Not of the boats, but of something much more sophiscite: the Narcosubmarinos. Very handmade submersible vehicles at the beginning and more sophisticated over time They are the ones that the drug cartels use to cross the ocean and move tons of drugs on each trip. They were the answer to the need to move the drug produced.
In the case of land vehicles, the need is not so much to move merchandise as protecting it, sow panic among enemies and demonstrate the power of each organization. Thus, about 15 years ago, and as we see in BBCNarcotanques began to appear: commercial vehicles available in the market that the cartels modified, adding armor layers to create something bungling and not very aesthetic, but functional.
Monsters. The photo that opens this article is an example that it was not the most sophisticated work in the world, but fulfilled its mission of being a heavy vehicle with protection against conventional ammunition and with the ability to sow terror among the adversaries.
Its appearance motivated the nickname of ‘monster’ or ‘vehiclerhinoceros‘And, like those first submarines, they were artisanal armored by the addition of steel plates between two and three centimeters thick, bases and sight points for machine guns and rifles, as well as reinforced front systems in case you had to collide with something.


Photo of Vïctor González


Photo of Vïctor González
Narcotanques. Since the beginning of the last decade, these vehicles have extended between different bands due to their effectiveness sowing panic (imagine seeing a mole of these on your street) and because they resist impacts of the ammunition of the rival poster. But, as in the case of submarines, the cartels have begun to create increasingly sophisticated armored.
They are still handmade and the welding lines or the fact that they use conventional vehicles can be seen, but in a short time they have passed from ‘fugitutes’ with steel sheets to vehicles that could go through a military tank. An example is the one shown by the youtuber Víctor González in this video:
Ford Super Duty. The specs From this pickup they are spectacular. Available in 4×4 with V8 engines, load capacity of 3.6 tons and possibility to tow another 18 tons, the Ford Super Duty It is the dream of any average American, but also the base on which the drug traffickers have built a armored … spectacular.


Photo of Vïctor González
In González’s video we can see that not only have they adapted the camouflage patterns of military vehicles, but we cannot intuit what vehicle it is because the exterior is deeply modified.
Steel plates that cover each millimeter, small crystals and with several inches shielding, small openings that can be closed and for those that appear guns of the rifles, protected inputs and even a 360º upper torrett system.


Photo of Vïctor González
As we said, there are elements that highlight, as the welds seen, but have shielded to the wheels. The price of such a modification? High: up to two million pesos, equivalent to about $ 100,000, as we read in Infobae. Others are more … discreet. They look like normal trucks, but they have a considerable caliber cannon inside:


Capture. And it is not something that the drug traffickers have hidden: when a group has been having better armored ones, they have boasted both of them and the captures of similar vehicles of rival groups. It is still, as we said some lines, a sample of power and a powerful deterrent. Now, just like the drug traffickers capture ‘tanks’ of enemies, the authorities also have a decade ‘ensuring’ the drug trafficking.
In recent years, the authorities have seized almost 300 of these armored vehicles, which they subsequently use in training centers of their police and military forces. In this way, security forces can know what tactics are drugs to shield vehicles, discover their weak points and perform maneuvers and simulations as realistic as possible. Also They destroy Those who are not useful.
Relative effectiveness. And the big question, or one of them, may be how troops are these tanks in combat, and not as much as a deterrent. The answer depends a lot on who is facing. In that war against rival cartels, conflicts in the streets and even ‘standard’ police forces, these armored ones are useful. Against army forces with more prepared armored people and, above all, with greater technology, drug trafficking are not so effective.
Now, they are modernizing. Groups such as the Gulf Cartel Han started to implement improvements that go beyond armor: software installed in vehicles that blocks the signal of enemy drones. What is clear is that these narcotanques have changed a lot in a few years, moving from very handmade vehicles to authentic moles with modern military capabilities.
And it is another sample of the power of these organizations and how far they can go to protect their resources and end the rivals.
Images | ZestymasterofzestyVíctor González
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