Mexican security forces detained a U.S. citizen in the state of Sonora who was identified as a logistics operator for a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel linked to arms trafficking, federal authorities reported Friday.
The arrest was carried out during surveillance patrols in the vicinity of the border bridge between Mexico and the United States, in the municipality of San Luis Río Colorado.
During the operation, authorities also seized 5,445 rounds of ammunition and a vehicle.
According to the official report, the operation represents an estimated impact of more than 1.65 million pesos on the operational and financial structures of the criminal group in the country’s northwestern region.
The woman was placed at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the FGR for the corresponding investigation file to be compiled.
The operation involved the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar), in coordination with the Secretariat of National Defense, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), the National Guard, and the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC).
The arrest comes as arms trafficking from the United States has become one of the main issues on the bilateral security agenda, in which Washington is demanding greater action from Mexico against fentanyl and cartels, while the Mexican government is calling for measures to stop the weapons that reach criminal organizations.
Data published this year by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) indicate that 71% of the 32,144 weapons recovered in Mexico in 2025 and sent to that agency for tracing were manufactured in the United States or legally imported into that country.
The ATF itself warns that the weapons submitted for tracing do not constitute a representative sample of all those used by criminal organizations.
The Mexican government has reported that, since February 2025, the so-called Northern Border Operation has resulted in more than 14,000 arrests and 9,829 firearms seized, as well as nearly 2 million rounds of ammunition.
Sonora, which shares more than 500 kilometers of border with Arizona, is one of the areas where factions linked to the Sinaloa Cartel and other criminal groups operate, competing for routes used for the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and people to both sides of the border.
Source: elcomentario.ucol
