Drug Cartels Targeting Police at Their Homes, Kidnapping Members of Force in Mexico

Organized crime group Jalisco cartel has imposed a policy of its own as a response to Mexico's "hugs, not bullets." One of the notorious drug cartels has abducted several members of an elite police force in Guanajuato.

The members of the cartel had reportedly tortured members of the elite force to obtain names and addresses of fellow officers, according to an Associated Press report.

The drug cartel is now hunting down and killing officers in their homes in front of their families.

The Jalisco cartel had already declared war against the government while accusing the elite state force Tactical Group of treating cartel members unfairly.

A banner signed by the cartel stated that they are coming for their targets and they are ready for a war.

The cartel added that for each member killed in their cartel, they are going to kill two members from the Tactical Group.

David Saucedo, a Guanajuato-based security expert, said that a lot of the officers have decided to leave, taking their families and had taken into hiding, according to a Seattle Times report.

A Guanajuato-based news cooperative, Poplab, reported that at least seven police officers have been targeted this year during their off days.

Mexico Police Vs. Drug Cartels

In April, a drone was used to drop explosives on police officers, which led to two injuries. Officials suspected it was the doing of Jalisco cartel in the western state of Michoacan.

The drones are thought to be the latest weapons in a war between the security forces and drug cartels, according to a BBC News report.

The officers that were injured during the attack had been deployed to clear roads leading to the city of Aguililla. The roadblock was done to reportedly hinder security forces from entering the area.

The October 14 massacre in 2019 was just one of the most extreme episodes of recent violence in Mexico's drug wars.

One trooper said that officers are forced to buy their own ammunition, adding other faults in their weapons and equipment such as wide gaps to each side of bullet-proof jackets, and cheap and flimsy regulation helmets, according to The Guardian report.

Meanwhile, corruption among the ranks is also observed due to meager salaries, from which officers are not only expected to buy their own bullets.

In addition, police officers also often had to buy their own uniforms using their salaries.

On April 26, a gun battle had ensued between rival Mexican drug gangs near the U.S. border had left eight people dead and burned-out armored trucks on the roadway, according to a U.S. News report.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the gun battle was between two rival gangs, which were the old Zetas gang and the Gulf cartel.

The area where the gun battled had occurred was not far from where 19 people were killed in January. Sixteen of them were Guatemalan migrants.

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