VZCZCXRO7584
PP RUEHWEB
DE RUEHMC #0100/01 0771547
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P R 031719Z MAR 09 ZDS
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 4622
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3569
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHCD/AMCONSUL CIUDAD JUAREZ 0070
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGD/AMCONSUL GUADALAJARA 0114
RUEHGD/DTS GUADALAJARA
RUEHHO/AMCONSUL HERMOSILLO 0048
RUEHHO/DTS HERMOSILLO
RHMFISS/HQ USNORTHCOM
RUEHRS/AMCONSUL MATAMOROS 0260
RUEHRS/DTS MATAMOROS
RUEHRD/AMCONSUL MERIDA 0275
RUEHRD/DTS MERIDA
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY 9135
RUEHNG/AMCONSUL NOGALES 0012
RUEHNL/AMCONSUL NUEVO LAREDO 0221
RUEHNL/DTS NUEVO LAREDO
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 0035
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0006
RUEHTM/AMCONSUL TIJUANA 0102
RUEHTM/DTS TIJUANA

194998
2009-03-03 17:19:00
09MONTERREY100
Consulate Monterrey
SECRET//NOFORN

VZCZCXRO7584
PP RUEHWEB
DE RUEHMC #0100/01 0771547
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P R 031719Z MAR 09 ZDS
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 4622
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3569
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHCD/AMCONSUL CIUDAD JUAREZ 0070
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGD/AMCONSUL GUADALAJARA 0114
RUEHGD/DTS GUADALAJARA
RUEHHO/AMCONSUL HERMOSILLO 0048
RUEHHO/DTS HERMOSILLO
RHMFISS/HQ USNORTHCOM
RUEHRS/AMCONSUL MATAMOROS 0260
RUEHRS/DTS MATAMOROS
RUEHRD/AMCONSUL MERIDA 0275
RUEHRD/DTS MERIDA
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY 9135
RUEHNG/AMCONSUL NOGALES 0012
RUEHNL/AMCONSUL NUEVO LAREDO 0221
RUEHNL/DTS NUEVO LAREDO
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 0035
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0006
RUEHTM/AMCONSUL TIJUANA 0102
RUEHTM/DTS TIJUANA

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTERREY 000100 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y - Classification 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
PM FOR DTCC FOR BALLARD, DS FOR IP/ITA, WHA FOR MEX AND CEN, EAP 
FOR EAP/K 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/3/2034 
TAGS: ETTC MASS SNAR PGOV KCRM CASC MX KS
SUBJECT: MEXICO:  TRACKING NARCO-GRENADES 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Bruce Williamson, Principal Offficer, Consul 
General Monterrey, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (a), (b), (d) 
¶1.  (SBU)   During recent months Mexican narco-traffickers have 
directed a series of grenade attacks directed against, inter 
alia, Mexican law enforcement and military facilities, civilian 
crowds, and U.S. consular installations.  The escalation in the 
strength and power of the weapons used by the narco-traffickers 
has not only cost lives, but has taken its toll in terms of the 
damage done to local civil society. 
 
¶2. (S)  AmConsulate General Monterrey's ATF Office, the ATF 
Explosives Technology Branch, and AmEmbassy Mexico DAO have been 
working with Mexican law enforcement authorities to identify the 
origin of various grenades and other explosive devices recovered 
locally over the past few months, including the unexploded M26A2 
fragmentation grenade hurled at the Consulate itself during the 
October 11, 2008 attack.  Other ordnance recovered includes 21 
grenades recovered by Mexican law enforcement on October 16, 
2008 after a raid at a narco-warehouse in Guadalupe (a working 
class suburb of Monterrey), and twenty-five 40mm explosive 
projectiles, a U.S. M203 40mm grenade launcher, and three South 
Korean K400 fragmentation grenades recovered the same day in an 
abandoned armored vehicle that suspected narco-traffickers used 
to escape apprehension. 
 
¶3.   (S/NF) Local Mexican law enforcement has recovered a 
Grenade spoon and pull ring from an exploded hand grenade used 
in a January 6, 2009 attack on Televisa Monterrey, a Monterrey 
television station.  Based upon ATF examination, it appears that 
the grenade used in the attack on the Consulate has the same lot 
number, and is of similar design and style, as the three of the 
grenades found at the narco-warehouse in Guadalupe.  On January 
7, 2009, the Mexican Army recovered 14 M-67 fragmentation 
grenades and 1 K400 fragmentation grenade in Durango City, 
Durango.  Finally and perhaps most disturbing, on January 31, 
2009 three men tossed a K-75 grenade into a night club near 
Pharr, Texas -- an East Texas border town --but the grenade did 
not explode.  The attackers may have been targeting three 
off-duty police officers who were in the club at the time. 
 
¶4.   (S) The lot numbers of some of the grenades recovered, 
including the grenade used in the attack on Televisa, indicate 
that previously ordnance with these same lot numbers may have 
been sold by the USG to the El Salvadoran military in the early 
1990s via the Foreign Military Sales program.  We would like to 
thank AmEmbassy San Salvador for its ongoing efforts to query 
the Government of El Salvador as whether any of its stocks of 
grenades and other munitions have been diverted or are otherwise 
unaccounted for. 
 
¶5.   (SBU)  AmConsulate Monterrey requests that Department 
instruct AmEmbassy Seoul to discreetly query the Korean 
government regarding the whereabouts, disposition, and the 
possibility of any missing stocks of South Korean-made: 
 
---  40mm High Explosives Cartridges K200, with Lot numbers 
HWB95L615-012; HWB95L615-014; EC-87E615-061;  EC-88G615-071, 
EC-84D610-096, EC-83H615-012, and EC-83H815-012. 
 
---  K400 Fragmentation Grenades, with Lot numbers 
EC-89E605-063, HEB96H605-033, HWB96H605-033, HWB96H-609-003, 
KG94DK400002-017, KG94D002-017, HWB89S605-063, ME183D, and 
HWB95K605-029. 
 
---  K402 Fragmentation Grenades, with Lot numbers HWB96H605-063 
and HWB96H605-033. 
 
 
MONTERREY 00000100  002 OF 002 
 
 
--- K75 Fragmentation Grenade, with Lot numbers EC-85E605-031 
and EC89E605-073. 
 
¶6.   (SBU)  Any information as to the destination of this 
ordnance and to whom it may have been sold would be most 
appreciated.  This information will be used in an U.S. ongoing 
criminal investigation. 
WILLIAMSON