Representatives of U.S. security agencies held a working group with security officials from the state of Michoacán to combat narco-explosives.
According to the Michoacán Secretariat of Public Security (SSP), progress was highlighted during the meeting in dismantling clandestine workshops and seizing thousands of explosives, as part of the strategies implemented by the Civil Guard’s Specialized Group on Explosive Devices.
Representatives from various U.S. agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), were present.
During the session, Commander Carlos Roberto Gómez Ruiz presented the actions carried out by the Specialized Group, which include the detection and neutralization of more than 4,000 improvised explosive devices. These include drone-launched devices, homemade mortars, and ground-based explosives.
The SSP detailed that, in addition to the seizures, five clandestine workshops dedicated to the manufacture of these devices have been dismantled.
These operations are part of intelligence work, knowledge sharing, and ongoing training between Mexican and U.S. authorities.
Authorities in Michoacán have confirmed that organized crime groups are recruiting pyrotechnic artisans to make explosives that criminal cells use to attack rivals or law enforcement.
Carlos Roberto Gómez Ruiz, deputy director of the Specialized Group on Explosive Devices and Hazardous Materials of the Michoacán Public Security Secretariat (SSP), stated on May 8 that the recruitment of these individuals is due to the fact that criminal groups lack personnel trained to create these explosives, and the materials are easily obtained.
“Some of the materials they use can be found at any hardware store, others, such as gunpowder, or those used in mining,” the Michoacán SSP specialist said at a press conference.
According to the US intelligence community’s Annual Threat Assessment, criminal organizations have intensified their attacks against rivals and security forces through the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), such as landmines, mortars, and grenades.
The report, published last March, found nearly 1,600 attacks with these devices against Mexican security forces in 2024, a drastic increase compared to the three attacks reported between 2020 and 2021.
Source: infobae
