U.S. soldiers accused of working with Mexican drug cartel - and 'agreeing to carry out murder-for-hire plot'

Soldier: Kevin Corley was recently discharged from the Army after serving in Afghanistan His cousin Jerome was killed in the DEA raid

A current and a former U.S. Army soldier were among three men busted in an elaborate drug trafficking sting, in which one of their comrades was shot and killed.

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent shot Jerome Corley on Saturday in Laredo, Texas, where federal authorities busted three men, including an Army sergeant and a recently discharged officer, who thought they would be hired as assassins for Mexico's brutal Zetas drug cartel.

The Zetas was founded around a group of elite Mexican troops that went rogue to work for the Gulf cartel, south of Texas.

They later split to build their own extremely violent and well-armed group involved in drug trafficking, kidnap and extortion.

Among the arrested was Corley's cousin Kevin Corley, 29, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, who served in Afghanistan and was discharged from the Army on March 13, according to an Army spokeswoman.

Also arrested were Samuel Walker, 28, of Colorado Springs, an active-duty sergeant, according to a spokeswoman at Fort Carson; and Shavar Davis, 29, of Denver. Read More