[NYPost] A Mexican cartel allegedly built a sophisticated underground drug highway into San Diego, complete with a rail system, to smuggle millions of dollars in cocaine across the US border.
Now the alleged mastermind is facing federal charges.
Luis Manuel Hernandez Victoria, known as “El Ingeniero” (The Engineer), is accused of designing and constructing the tunnel for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a Mexican syndicate designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization
“Hernandez engineered his own downfall,” said US Attorney Adam Gordon.
Authorities discovered the passage May 29, 2026, beneath a Buy 4 Less, a retail store at 2498 Roll Drive, Suite E, near San Diego’s Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Federal agents seized more than one ton of cocaine worth an estimated $45 million. "But, discounted at the Buy 4 Less"
The underground route stretched approximately 1,933 feet from Tijuana into San Diego, reaching 55 feet below ground. Reinforced walls, electricity, ventilation and a rail system equipped the passage, which stood just 4.5 feet tall.
A federal grand jury has charged Hernandez with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiring to construct or finance a cross-border tunnel, conspiring to use the passage to import controlled substances and conspiracy to import controlled substances.
Hernandez was arrested in Mexico’s Jalisco state on Oct. 15, according to public reports. Mexican authorities seized weapons and narcotics during the arrest.
He is the seventh person charged in connection with the tunnel, and the investigation remains ongoing.
The CJNG received its foreign terrorist organization designation on Feb. 20, 2025. Prosecutors allege Hernandez constructed the passage for the cartel’s benefit.
In a separate operation, Mexican federal authorities and the Mexican navy uncovered another suspected smuggling tunnel in Tijuana’s Nueva Tijuana neighborhood.
The wood-lined passage measured approximately 869 feet long and sat about 21 feet underground.
Officers also seized ammunition, cellphones, bank cards, a digital video recorder and dozens of doses of meth.
Hernandez faces prosecution over the alleged $45 million smuggling operation.
[ShabelleMedia] Somalia’s intelligence agency said it killed a former head of al-Shabaab ... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa... ’s financial operations in a planned operation conducted with international partners in the country’s southern Lower Shabelle region.
The National Intelligence and Security Agency, known as NISA, identified the man as Faysal Yusuf Macallin Abdulle, also known as Abdikarim Horseed or Gaagaale. The agency said the operation took place on Oct. 23 in Kuunyo Barrow.
NISA said Abdulle oversaw the krazed killer group’s finances from 2014 to 2024 and remained closely connected to its big shotship.
According to the agency, Abdulle joined al-Shabaab in 2007 while working at a shop in Mogadishu’s Bakara Market. NISA said the shop served as cover for his activities within the group.
He headed al-Shabaab’s financial office in the Banaadir region from 2007 to 2011, managing money collected through extortion, the agency said. He then served as the group’s chief accountant from 2011 to 2014 before becoming its top financial official.
Abdulle was succeeded by Abdullahi Hassan Abdi Cosoble, known as Abdullahi Wadaad, who was killed in a separate operation on Jan. 23, 2026, in Kuunyo Barrow, NISA said.
The agency described the deaths of the two successive financial chiefs as a major setback for al-Shabaab’s leadership and financial networks.
Al-Shabaab, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, has waged an insurgency against Somalia’s federal government for more than 15 years. The group has carried out bombings, liquidations and attacks on security forces, government officials and civilians.
The faceless myrmidons also rely on extortion and forced taxation of businesses and communities to finance their operations, including in areas where they maintain an influence.
NISA said it would continue targeting senior al-Shabaab figures and disrupting networks involved in collecting money used to finance attacks against Somalis.
The agency did not provide further details about the operation, including the methods used or whether other people were killed.
The claims about Abdulle’s role in al-Shabaab and the circumstances of his death could not be independently verified.
BURKINA FASO 🇧🇫 |
Après avoir revendiqué hier matin une attaque contre un poste de VDP à Niamana (voir post en citation), le JNIM a revendiqué 4 autres attaques dans le pays (voir carte 🗺️ ci-dessous) :
- La prise de contrôle d’un poste VDP à Namsiguia (Région de Kaya), le matin du 28/10.
- La prise de contrôle d’un poste de l’armée burkinabè à Bilanga (région de Fada N’Gourma), le matin du 28/10.
- La prise de contrôle d’un poste VDP à Mantou (région de Fada N’Gourma), le soir du 28/10.
- La prise de contrôle d’un poste de l’armée burkinabè et VDP à Boussougo (Près de Ouahigouya), le soir du 28/10.
ℹ️ Ces 5 revendications en 24 heures illustrent la pression que le JNIM cherche à exercer sur les forces de sécurité burkinabè, malgré les violents affrontements récemment signalés avec l’EIS dans le pays.
⚠️ Au Mali, le JNIM a également revendiqué 2 attaques ce 29 octobre :
- Un engin explosif visant un poste des FAMa à Nampala (Région de Ségou)
- Un IED visant l’Africa Corps 🇷🇺et les FAMa entre Mourdia et Kouala (Région de Koulikoro)
BURKINA FASO 🇧🇫 |
After claiming an attack yesterday morning against a VDP post in Niamana (see quoted post), JNIM has claimed 4 additional attacks in the country (see map 🗺️ below):
- The takeover of a VDP post in Namsiguia (Kaya Region), on the morning of 28/10.
- The takeover of a Burkinabè army post in Bilanga (Fada N’Gourma region), on the morning of 28/10.
- The takeover of a VDP post in Mantou (Fada N’Gourma region), on the evening of 28/10.
- The takeover of a Burkinabè army and VDP post in Boussougo (Near Ouahigouya), on the evening of 28/10.
ℹ️ These 5 claims in 24 hours illustrate the pressure that JNIM seeks to exert on Burkinabè security forces, despite the violent clashes recently reported with the EIS in the country.
⚠️ In Mali, JNIM has also claimed 2 attacks on this 29 October:
- An explosive device targeting a FAMa post in Nampala (Ségou Region)
- An IED targeting the Africa Corps 🇷🇺 and FAMa between Mourdia and Kouala (Koulikoro Region)
[Jpost] The Saudi-led coalition intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by Yemen's Houthis in the Mecca region, the coalition said in a statement on Friday.
The reported incident is the latest in a series of cross-border attacks by the Iran-aligned Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s on Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , involving drones and missiles targeting military installations, airports and energy infrastructure.
Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... 's Houthis denied launching any attack towards Saudi Arabia on Friday, after the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by the group over the Mecca region.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree dismissed the coalition's account as false in a post on X/Twitter, saying the group had not carried out any operation towards Saudi territory. He said its operations target Saudi oil facilities and military bases.
The group has repeatedly denied targeting Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest cities, rejecting previous Saudi-led coalition accusations that it had launched drones towards the cities.
YEMEN'S HOUTHIS SAY THEY ATTACKED SAUDI RAS TANURA REFINERY
On Thursday, the Houthis claimed to have attacked several refineries and airports in Saudi Arabia.
The locations include Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil refinery, which is the largest in the kingdom, the Rabigh refinery, and an Aramco facility in Abqaiq, as well as King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities of the Houthi claims.
A vessel transiting outbound in the Strait of Hormuz caught fire after two explosive devices attached to its hull detonated on Thursday, 25 nautical miles northeast of Oman's Khasab, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.
According to UKTMO, the vessel was approached by a smaller ship that attached the explosives to the hull above the waterline.
UKMTO said the subsequent blasts resulted in a fire in the vessel's engine room, which temporarily disabled the vessel. The fire has since been extinguished, the crew is safe, and the vessel is heading to its next port call.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
Earlier on Thursday, UKMTO reported that it had received a report from a company security officer that a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting outbound through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Southern Giants’ forces have released a recent video showing them reaching the outskirts of Hayd al-Aqrabi in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, laying siege to Ansarallah in the area. However, these movements form part of temporary incursions into an area which, like Dhubah Airport, is difficult for either side to defend.
This is why the Sana’a forces at Bab el Mandeb and on the island of Perim are supplied by sea rather than via the coastal road. Hence the importance of controlling the inland mountains to secure the coast; these are currently being taken by Ansarallah in a war of attrition against the Giants’ forces (primarily) and the PLC, the outcome of which will have profound implications for the city of Aden. 🇾🇪
The Southern Giants’ forces have released a recent video showing them reaching the outskirts of Hayd al-Aqrabi in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, laying siege to Ansarallah in the area. However, these movements form part of temporary incursions into an area which, like Dhubah Airport, is difficult for either side to defend.
This is why the Sana’a forces at Bab el Mandeb and on the island of Perim are supplied by sea rather than via the coastal road. Hence the importance of controlling the inland mountains to secure the coast; these are currently being taken by Ansarallah in a war of attrition against the Giants’ forces (primarily) and the PLC, the outcome of which will have profound implications for the city of Aden. 🇾🇪
[Breitbart] Three international bridges in Texas closed for several hours as the Gulf Cartel spread terror on the Mexican side.
The incidents took place on Thursday afternoon in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, after Mexican authorities arrested Axel “Titan” Cardenas, the son of Alfredo “El Contador” Cardenas Martinez, the leader of the Gulf Cartel in Matamoros. El Contador is currently in Mexican custody, fighting his extradition to the United States through legal injunctions.
In an attempt to rescue Titan, Gulf Cartel gunmen carried out a series of attacks throughout Matamoros. Their goal was trying to keep Mexican military forces from moving him to the airport and flying him to Mexico City.
As part of their terror tactics, Gulf Cartel gunmen torched vehicles, set up blockades, and threw road spikes throughout city streets — tactics meant to slow down authorities and pressure the government into releasing the suspected narco terrorist.
The wave of terror forced the U.S. government to close down the international ports of entry that connect the cities of Matamoros and Brownsville, Texas.
The move proved unsuccessful as Mexican authorities were able to move Cardenas to the airport and fly him out to Mexico City, where he is wanted on various warrants connecting him to extortion and cartel violence.
[Reuters] The Pentagon is treating the spate of mysterious freezer malfunctions that spoiled food at military bases across the United States in August as a suspected hack, according to four officials familiar with the matter.
One of the officials said the military investigators were in touch with their French counterparts about a similar cyberattack on commercial freezers that disrupted supermarkets there earlier this month.
Reuters was not able to ascertain how far along the Pentagon's investigation was or whether it had reached any conclusions about what happened or who might be responsible. When asked about the investigation, the Pentagon said that a unit of Cyber Command — the military's cyber force — was "working in close coordination with interagency and law enforcement partners." It did not elaborate.
The US Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division said its Cyber Field Office was involved in the investigation and that it was working with French law enforcement to better understand "the refrigeration outages in Europe."
The late August malfunctions in the United States affected at least six commissaries — on-base stores where military personnel buy their food — according to a Reuters review of the military bases' contemporaneous Facebook posts and website updates. In at least one of the cases, the freezers did not simply stop working; the cooling units' temperatures were cranked up overnight, yielding mounds of wilted or melted food in the morning.
The Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Facebook account explained on August 26 that its freezer "went into defrost mode where it heated up all the food. Trust us when we say it was 'spoiled.'"
The spate of rogue freezer behavior and the possibility of cybersabotage were first reported on August 28 by a recently created blog called Signal and Silence. The involvement of military investigators and their contacts with the French were reported by the newspaper Stars and Stripes and Britain's Daily Telegraph, respectively. The news that the investigators were treating the incident as a suspected hack is being reported here for the first time.
The French Embassy in Washington said it would have no comment.
FRENCH FREEZERS FRIED
If confirmed to be a cyberattack, the refrigerator malfunctions would be another illustration of how vulnerable critical infrastructure — in this case cold storage — can be to hackers.
The French freezer cyberattack overrode the temperature controls on commercial cooling units in more than 350 establishments, leading to dramatic scenes as supermarkets' frozen food aisles were cleared of spoiled merchandise.
The French hack involved cranking the temperature inside the units up rather than merely knocking them offline, similar to what happened in Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Some French refrigeration units had the temperature turned up so high they caught fire. The French attack's total costs could add up to tens of millions of euros nationwide, one supermarket owner estimated earlier this month.
The French cyberattack appeared to have been easy to pull off, experts previously told Reuters. The Danish firm Danfoss, whose controllers ran many of the stricken units, said that many of the devices were obsolete or were running outdated firmware, which could have made it easy for hackers to break in. Reuters could not establish whether Danfoss or any other brand of freezer controller were in use at the affected US bases. Danfoss did not return messages seeking comment.
CHILLING HACKS
Refrigeration plays a critical role in the distribution of fresh food and the sabotage of cold storage facilities over the internet has long been seen as a nightmare scenario, alongside the loss of electricity or water plants.
Earlier this year, the Global Food Safety Initiative, an industry body, called on food safety professionals and IT leaders to work together to ensure "robust cybersecurity" for refrigeration technology, noting that "a hacked cooling system is just as dangerous as a broken one."
Hackers have previously sabotaged fridges and freezers both in the United States and elsewhere.
Danfoss has said that, in 2022, hackers either targeted or broke into supermarkets in Russia and Israel that were using obsolete versions of its cold storage controllers. In December of last year, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles accused a Ukrainian woman of being part of a hacker group that knocked out the refrigeration at a meatpacking facility in 2024, ruining more than 2,000 pounds of meat.
The root problem was that controllers that were initially conceived as isolated interfaces that would be serviced by an in-person technician were increasingly being connected to the internet, said Bill Moore, the chief executive of industrial cybersecurity firm Xona Systems. Concerns about online exposure were not unique to cooling systems, he said, but they could have particularly serious consequences there.
"It can definitely disrupt the supply chain for food," he said.
[Dawn] An anti-drone net saved Hassankhel cop shoppe after a quadcopter dropped an improvised bomb (IED) on the building. The bomb, however, did not reach the roof due to the anti-drone net installed over the facility’s rooftop.
"It was a locally manufactured IED and was dropped from a quadcopter. The anti-drone net installed over the rooftop protected the building," SP Saddar division Fida Hussain told Dawn.
He stated that holy warriors had used an energy drink bottle filled with explosives, nuts and bolts, adding that the device could have caused damage, but the precautionary measures taken by police protected the facility.
According to Mr Hussain, all the police installations within his jurisdiction, including Badhber, Mattani and Hassankhel cop shoppes and police posts, had been protected by similar nets.
The Hassankhel cop shoppe is located some 86 kilometres south of the historic provincial capital and had remained under constant attack for some time. The area not only borders Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... , but Kohat and Nowshera districts as well.
⭕️نفّذت قوات الهندسة التابعة للواء إفرايم صباح اليوم (الخميس) أعمال إغلاق الفتحتين اللتين تم العثور عليهما في قلقيلية الشهر الماضي.
⭕️وقد أُغلقت الفتحتان بشكل نهائي من خلال صبّ الخرسانة، بعد أن أُغلقتا بشكل أولي فور العثور عليهما.
⭕️نذكّر مجددًا بأنه بعد استكمال فحص الفتحتين، تبيّن أنهما فتحتا دخول دون وجود فتحات خروج.
⭕️كما تم استبعاد وجود مسار نفق متصل بهما، وتبيّن أنهما لا تقعان بالقرب من منطقة التماس.
— Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya | إيلا واوية (@CaptainElla1) October 29, 2026
Translated Text:
⭕️Engineering forces affiliated with the Ephraim Brigade carried out operations this morning (Thursday) to close the two openings discovered in Qalqilya last month.
⭕️The two openings were permanently sealed by pouring concrete, after they had been initially closed immediately upon discovery.
⭕️We remind again that after completing the inspection of the two openings, it was determined that they were entry openings without any exit openings.
⭕️The existence of a tunnel path connected to them was ruled out, and it was determined that they are not located near a friction area.
[Rudaw] A vessel was reported on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, north of Oman’s Khasab, on Thursday, with the crew’s status unknown, a maritime security monitor said, as the US military rejected Iranian media claims that fat merchantmen were striking sea mines in the strategic waterway.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received a report of the incident on Thursday, approximately nine nautical miles north of Khasab, Oman, after the master of a third-party vessel reported seeing another vessel on fire.
The incident follows a fortnight of alleged attacks from the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s Guard Corps (IRGC), planting sea mines to prevent vessels from transiting the strategic waterway.
"Over the past 24 hours, 3 oil tankers went kaboom! and caught fire after hitting a mine while passing through the unauthorized southern route of the Strait of Hormuz," the IRGC-affiliated outlet ISNA reported on Thursday, adding that the tankers reportedly "turned off all their radar and navigation systems ... and ignored the warnings of the IRGC Navy."
However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... the US Central Command (CENTCOM) rejected the claims.
"Over recent days and weeks, Iranian-controlled media have reported Iranian claims that commercial vessels are hitting sea mines while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. These claims are FALSE," CENTCOM said.
The US military maintained that all internationally recognized primary transit routes through the strait had been "cleared of sea mines by U.S. forces," saying that thousands of commercial vessels "have safely used the transit lanes and continue today."
Iranian strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have surged significantly since the start of October, with at least 30 vessels being reported and confirmed, marking the month with the highest number of incidents since March, according to the Washington Institute.
#6
/\ Perhaps the RU/SINO clandestine weapons and technology transfers to the IRGC is seen by Washington planners as an interruption or 'relief valve' of RU/SINO activities in Ukraine and Taiwan.
#7
of all UAVs in USA arsenal, these are some of the easiest to shoot down - the Houthis have downed some with Russian surface to air weapons
MQ-1 is big (almost 50' wingspan) and not that fast (140 mph) MQ-9 is faster but also a big target.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/30/2026 11:21 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Open Source
• Secret Procurement Network: According to a Reuters Investigation via Iran International, Iran used a network of over 5,000 front agencies (all sharing Ministry of Defense addresses and named "MOD" plus numbers) to import at least $2 billion to $2.3 billion in military hardware, explosives, and heavy-duty trucks between January 2025 and June 2026.
• Chinese and Russian Systems: Reports and open-source intelligence indicate deliveries or planned acquisitions of Russian and Chinese air defense assets, including Russian S-400 Triumf components deployed near Isfahan and Chinese shoulder-fired air defense systems (MANPADS) and HQ-series systems.
• Missile and Rocket Components: Shipments have included rocket propellants, detonators, electronics, aircraft engine parts, and heavy launch vehicles routed via China, Russia, Germany, and the Caspian Sea.
• Domestic Additions: Iran also reported operational use of locally adapted mobile and low-cost air defense tools—such as the Arash-e Kamangir system—to counter regional aerial threats.
#9
If we’re aleady replacing the things with something smaller, faster, and cheaper that does the job better, then even if our entire inventory is destroyed that isn’t the triumph Iran would like to think — they’re using up their defense inventory and saving us the cost of junking them.
#10
Consider the possibility that on some level, we are deploying an aging asset soon to be phased out, at certain defined areas of operations, to help map the Air Defense assets the IRGC and Artesh have in place. Given the looming return of a joint US-Israeli Kaboom Campaign post mid-terms, letting the mutts map out their ADIZ for us seems a reasonable course of action.
#11
Several, eh? A rather non-specific quantity when dealing with a small number of countable things.
You can spin this as "Oh noes! We're running out of stuff!!", but a very likely situation is NoMore's scenario. Yes, we might have lost some drones, but that bought some very useful information for the coming festivities. And no American lives were lost.
#12
I think SteveS and NoMoreBS are onto it. These are aging and low-tech among our new tech capabilities. Let them get a few (if they really have...) and use the info to whack TF Wednesday
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/30/2026 22:33 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
