When Did It Become an Issue

At first these cartels were not known to be affiliated with violent crime, but that soon changed. Mexican police saw this violent behavior rising around 2006-2007. Federal Police started to see crimes such as murder and kidnapping connected to the cartels. Soon the Mexican police uncovered that the cartels were not only involved in smuggling. After some years the public discovered that there had been 2,783 murders related to these drug cartels. After the law enforcements highlighted this fact, Mexico took a stand against the drug cartels, but the police did not anticipate the extent of the drug cartel’s power. The drug cartels started accumulating assault rifles, machines guns, and other weaponry from the U.S. and then started terrorizing Mexico.