EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Police in Juarez, Mexico this morning cordoned off City Hall as a man took a box of C4 plastic explosives to a gun buyback event being held there.
After clearing the area, police called in the bomb squad from the Chihuahua state Public Safety Commission who examined the box and determined that the C4 lacked detonators and thus wasn’t a threat, according to a communique from the municipal government. The Mexican army took custody of the box and took it away to its headquarters in the southernmost part of the city.
The explosive was industrial grade and once intended for use in a Mexican mine. The man who took the explosive to the government building will not face sanctions; it wasn’t immediately clear if he would be paid for turning in the item.
The buyback event continues through the end of the month.
New Border Patrol chief begins second tour in El Paso
The El Paso Sector has a new Border Patrol Chief as of March 1, with the return of Gloria M. Chavez to her duties, the agency confirmed today.
Chavez on Monday administered the oath of office to some of the agency’s new hires and continues to “catch up” on pending work at the Sector, a Border Patrol spokesman said.
Chavez, formerly the Border Patrol Chief in El Centro, California, took over the reins of the El Paso Sector as Interim Chief last July, when Aaron Hull was sent on temporary assignment to the Detroit Sector. Hull had led the agency in El Paso at the height of last year’s migrant surge, drawing criticism from activists over the humanitarian crisis (overcrowding, alleged neglect) at temporary migrant holding facilities.
Some of those same migrant advocates later praised Chavez for her open-door policy and then expressed regret that she would be returning to her duties at El Centro.
