Two US Embassy officials killed in a car crash in Mexico following a daring raid on a secret drug lab were working for the CIA at the time, according to security officials.
The pair, who haven’t been named, were killed along with two Mexican officials when their car plunged 600 feet off a cliff and burst into flames early on Sunday morning, the Washington Post reported, citing sources familiar with the incident.
Their vehicle was part of a convoy of six navigating the narrow mountainous roads in northern Mexico’s Chihuahua state as they returned from an operation to shut down a clandestine drug laboratory.
It skidded off the road and plunged down a ravine before exploding, according to Mexican officials.
The two CIA officials were working alongside Mexican authorities as part of the agency’s expanded and more aggressive role in counternarcotics under President Trump, according to the sources.
They supervised but did not participate directly in the Mexican raid on the lab, described as “perhaps one of the largest ever located” by Chihuahua’s attorney general, César Jáuregui Moreno.
President Trump has called on Mexico to take more action against the drug cartels.
As part of CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s increased focus on tackling drug gangs, the agency has shared more intelligence with Mexican anti-drug units and increased training for local forces, according to current and former officials.
That work has also included flying unarmed drones over Mexico to help track cartel leaders and local drug labs in remote areas of the country.
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