Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

Video Credit: CEN

This is the moment suspected members of a deal Mexican cartel daub vehicles with messages such as “we are here” to announce their arrival in the area.

The incident took place in the municipality of Tiquicheo in the western Mexican state of Michoacan and is believed to have been carried out by members of the Nueva Familia Michoacana Cartel.

In the footage viewed over 43,000 times on Twitter, uniformed cartel members are seen daubing cars with messages such as “we are here” and the group’s initials ‘FM’.

According to local media, the group stopped around 15 vehicles including a beer lorry, two taxis and a bus full of passengers.

The municipality of Tiquicheo is located just over 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the village of Zirandaro in Guerrero where the criminal gang, linked with the dangerous Jalisco New Generation Cartel, have reportedly started a turf war.

The mayor of Zirandaro, Gregorio Portillo, told local media that the situation is difficult to control because the area is hard to teach and only has three certified police officers working there.

He said: “The idea is to restore order and be able to live normally, but this is only going to happen with the presence of federal and state forces.

“It is impossible to combat the violent situation we are going through with only three certified officers.”

Reports said that the Nueva Familia Michoacana Cartel has caught the attention of local media through their gruesome torture techniques that includes skinning their rivals.

Among their allies is the notorious Sinaloa Cartel which used to be led by the drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, according to local media.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.