Armed Gangs Threaten Mexican Sea Turtles

I could have guessed that outlawing turtle eggs wouldn't end the turtle-egg trade, but reality takes the drug-trafficking metaphor further than I ever would have guessed. From Armed Gangs Threaten Mexican Sea Turtles:

Laws barring the killing of protected sea turtles and the sale of their eggs have been as effective as anti-drug trafficking programs: driving the practice underground but failing to stop it.

The latest threat is a horseback-riding gang whose members wield Kalashnikov rifles to drive away police and unarmed environmental activists.

Centuries-old traditions make the turtles, and especially their eggs, highly prized in Mexico, where officials have spent decades trying to protect the sea creatures.

Gangsters on horseback? With AKs? Is this Afghanistan?