CBS News Correspondent Anna Werner reports on new efforts employed by Texas authorities to counter drug cartel “splashdown” escapes along the Texas-Mexico border. The report will be broadcast tonight, June 25 on the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY (6:30-7:00 PM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.

            Tonight, Werner reports from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where Mexican drug cartels are smuggling cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States. The cartels’ latest technique to evade capture by law enforcement officials is called a “splashdown,” in which drug runners drive vehicles loaded with drugs intended for distribution in the United States into the Rio Grande River. Cartel members in boats immediately rush in to salvage the bales of drugs from the water and carry them back to the Mexican side of the river. Police say the drug traffickers have made these splashdown getaways at least 65 times in the past three years.

            “They know once they get back into the water, they’re safe,” said Texas State Police Lieutenant Charlie Goble, who patrols the Rio Grande Valley.  “All they’ve got to do is swim home.”

Police have been unable to intercept drug traffickers once they enter the river. However, Texas will soon launch a fleet of six boats equipped with machine guns to patrol the 54-mile stretch of the Rio Grande River.

            “We’re not going to cede any part of Texas to the Mexican cartels or the gangs that support them,” says Steve McGraw, who heads the Texas Department of Public Safety.

            Patricia Shevlin is the Executive Producer of the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY.

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Press Contact:             Lance Frank                 212-975-5959              frankl@cbsnews.com