Police officers in a small Arizona border city are on heightened alert following a tip that a Mexican drug cartel will put them in its crosshairs if they conduct off-duty busts.

By Joshua Rhett Miller at FOXNews.com

The threat stems from a marijuana seizure made this month by two off-duty police officers riding on horseback in an unincorporated area east of Nogales, a city of roughly 20,000, Police Chief Jeffrey Kirkham told FoxNews.com.

“The word was that these particular officers would be targeted if they were ever in that area again and were not on duty and intercepted any drug trafficking,” Kirkham said. “It said they should look the other way.”

The unidentified officers were able to confiscate roughly 400 pounds of marijuana during the seizure in early June at a known smuggling corridor along the U.S.-Mexican border where there is “relatively no fencing,” Kirkham said. No arrests were made, and the smugglers were able to retreat into Mexico.

Kirkham said his department, which employs 62 officers, learned about the threat through informants and has been unable to determine which Mexican drug cartel is behind it. Kirkham noted that two drug trafficking organizations — the Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel — are currently trying to gain a foothold in the Nogales area.

FULL STORY

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