Tijuana Drug Lords Hunt Down Corrupt Officers Over Stolen Shipment

The Mexican border city of Tijuana is considered one of Mexico's bloodiest cities, and a recent killing spree made sure the city earned that reputation as drug lords hunted down corrupt police officers whom they suspected of stealing their shipment of drugs.

Two of the corrupt police officers have been killed, according to the city's prosecutors. However, three other unrelated police officers were also killed in the killing spree. This suggested that a drug cartel launched the attack as retribution for stolen drugs and generalized it to just police officers and not specifically the ones who stole the shipment.

The Associated Press noted that this was a huge blow to the city as Tijuana already has the most homicides of any city in Mexico. The city has twice as many murders as the Mexican city that got second place on the list, Ciudad Juarez.

Prosecutors alleged that last month, a half-dozen local and state police officers in the city plotted to steal a large shipment of drugs from a warehouse where local drug lords were hiding them. These attacks on police officers may be the result of that plot.

However, the police officers targeted a warehouse belonging to one of the bloodiest cartels in Mexico, the Sinaloa Cartel, specifically the El Mayo faction, which is considered the most powerful crime organization in Tijuana.

Video Captured Tijuana Police Officers Stealing Cocaine From Mexico Drug Lords

That group of Tijuana police officers actually went through with their plot. Just last week, video of the officers' pickup truck pulling out of a warehouse with large plastic-wrapped bales of cocaine in its truck bed surfaced.

Following the video, prosecutors in Tijuana confirmed that three state detectives were under investigation in the case, along with three members of the Tijuana municipal police. According to The Guardian, this led Alberto Capella, the former head of Tijuana's police force, to admit that the drugs appeared to have belonged to drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who founded the Sinaloa Cartel alongside Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Police also indicated that after the drug shipment was stolen, the cartel immediately knew who was behind it as a series of attacks occurred throughout the city, and all targeted law enforcement.

The first attack happened at the federal prosecutors' office in Tijuana, where at least 30 rounds were fired into the building. An hour later, one of the municipal police officers allegedly involved in the heist was killed in a street. Another attack happened on November 24, but nobody was killed. Days later, one of the detectives being investigated was gunned down, with the attackers fleeing via motorcycle.

Tijuana a Battleground for Various Drug Cartels in Mexico

According to ABC News, there are several drug cartels vying for dominance in Tijuana; chief among them are the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), as well as other groups such as remnants of the old Arellano Felix gang. Turf battles between these groups are largely to blame for all the murders happening in Mexico's deadliest city.

The violence dates back to 2017 when murders doubled in Tijuana, rising from 919 in 2016 to 1,782 in 2017. Now, the city averages 2,000 homicides every year.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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