Topic: Playa Baghdad

Anthony Rubin recounts being kidnapped by the Gulf Cartel while attempting to cross the Rio Grande near Elon Musk's SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas. While walking on Playa Baghdad, Rubin and his brother were intercepted by men in a truck with Texas plates. The kidnappers claimed they were in cartel territory and demanded payment, eventually handing them over to armed men with assault rifles.

Anthony Rubin and his brother Joshua Rubin were kidnapped by the Gulf Cartel while attempting to document illegal crossings near the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The encounter began on Playa Baghdad when men in a truck with Texas plates intercepted them and forced them into a vehicle at gunpoint. Cartel members blindfolded the pair and transported them to an abandoned field, where they smashed the journalists' electronic equipment with crowbars. Rubin managed to preserve critical footage of the ordeal using a GoPro hidden in a secret compartment and tracked the movement via an Apple AirTag.

Rubin provides a granular account of his kidnapping near the SpaceX facility, noting that the cartel members suspected him of being military or intelligence due to his drone. The captors forced the brothers to their knees for "hostage-type photos" and threatened them with pistols. After a tense period of negotiation and transport, the cartel used crowbars to destroy their cameras and memory cards before releasing them at a port of entry.