On September 9, 2024, two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel began an internal struggle that continues to this day in that state: Los Chapitos and La Mayiza. From that day until November 27 of the same year, the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) has seized weapons manufactured in 12 countries.
However, most of this seized war material comes from the United States. During this period, the Sedena seized 703 weapons from organized crime in the state: 103 short and 600 long. Of these, the origin of only 129 could be identified. The rest of the weapons had the serial numbers erased or intervened, combined parts or some other detail that prevented their origin from being traced.
According to the newspaper El Universal, in an investigation by Silber Meza – who cites a Sedena document obtained through direct consultation – 78 of these weapons were manufactured in the United States (60.5%); 13 in Austria (10%); 13 in Romania (10%); eight in China (6.2%); six in Serbia (4.6%); three in Germany (2.3%); two in Italy (1.5%); two in Belgium (1.5%) and one weapon from, respectively (0.78%), Spain, Brazil, Poland and the Czech Republic.
The majority of these weapons, 85 of 129, were seized in Culiacán, the state capital, where the bulk of the attacks and clashes have been concentrated.
Since the beginning of the conflict in January 2025, 795 intentional homicides were recorded in Sinaloa – 159 per month on average – while from January to August 2024 the authorities recognized 42 murders per month, an exponential growth of almost 300%.
Deployment of the National Guard
On Tuesday of this week, the deployment of 10 thousand elements of the National Guard (GN) to the northern border began, with the aim of reinforcing security, preventing fentanyl trafficking and inhibiting illegal migration, agreements established by the governments of Mexico and the United States to avoid trade differences between both countries.
For its part, the US government pledged to investigate and inhibit the entry of weapons into Mexico from that country.
“The US government pledged to investigate the entry of weapons from the United States into Mexico. How is it possible that in our country there are grenade launchers that have been seized from criminal groups. “These types of weapons are high-powered and are exclusively used by the US military. There must be research and collaboration to reduce arms trafficking,” explained President Claudia Sheinbaum at her press conference on Tuesday.
Source: infobae
