7 Incredible Narco Tanks Built By Mexican Cartels

As violence in Mexico raged with intense competition between rival drug cartels and the Mexican government, the cartels came up with a radical solution for improving their capabilities in the street. Through ingenious engineering, and by …

As violence in Mexico raged with intense competition between rival drug cartels and the Mexican government, the cartels came up with a radical solution for improving their capabilities in the street.


Through ingenious engineering, and by taking a page out of “Mad Max,” cartels created so-called narco tanks.

These home-made armored vehicles, also known in Spanish as “monstruo” for their hulking size, reached peak popularity in 2011 as the Mexican military seized a garage from the Los Zetas that was being used to construct the vehicles. Four narco tanks were seized in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas in addition to an additional 23 trucks that were awaiting modification.

The Mexican military’s subsequent crack-down on the creation of monstrous forced the practice to go underground. Narco tanks are still produced, but today’s versions have their armored paneling on the inside so as to not draw unwanted attention from rival cartels and the military.

Below are some of the most impressive narco tanks from the vehicles heyday.

The behemoth versions of narco tanks were created from modified semi trucks.

Photo: screenshot/YouTube

Dump trucks were also modified into massive steel-plated monsters.

A narco-tank seized in Monterey, Mexico, in 2011. (Photo: screenshot/YouTube)

Even smaller narco tanks were armored almost completely with steel plates that could be upwards of 2 inches thick.

Photo: Screenshot/YouTube

As part of further defensive measures, the tanks were usually equipped with double wheels.

Photo: Screenshot/YouTube

Offensively, narco tanks had armored turrets and weapon bays on the side, out of which cartel members could point assault rifles.

Photo: Screenshot/YouTube

Some vehicles were equipped with battering rams to plow through traffic and any potential roadblocks.

Photo: Screenshot/YouTube

More from Business Insider:

This article originally appeared at Business Insider Defense Copyright 2015. Follow BI Defense on Twitter.

Team Mighty is a combination of some of our best voices. Team Mighty includes past and current editorial team members with such expertise as intelligence, Special Operations, all things tactical, aviation, military culture and history.

While Team Mighty is an amalgamation of people, everyone on Team Mighty is human. While we love robots and acknowledge their place in society (looking at you, Roomba), AI functionality is never used in articles on We Are The Mighty. Team Mighty upholds journalistic integrity and you can find our Editorial Guidelines in their entirety, here.