El Cromo ordered held on federal firearms and drug allegations
A judge ordered Iván Sánchez Santiago, known as El Cromo, held while proceedings over firearms and drug allegations continue. Authorities describe him as a Los Cromos leader linked to CJNG and separately report three aggravated-homicide warrants.
A judge ordered pretrial detention for Iván Sánchez Santiago, known as “El Cromo,” whom authorities identify as a leader of Los Cromos, an alleged criminal network operating in Oaxaca’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec, El Diario de Chihuahua reported.
According to the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR), prosecutors charged him with possessing a firearm reserved for military use and possessing drugs for sale. At the initial hearing, organized-crime prosecutors asked the court to allow the criminal case to proceed. His defense requested an extension of the constitutional deadline for that decision. The judge had already ruled his detention lawful.
Sánchez Santiago was arrested in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in a Navy-led operation involving federal authorities and prosecutors from Jalisco and Oaxaca. The FGR said Navy and National Intelligence Center work led to the arrest. It described him as a possible member of an organization involved in homicide, extortion, kidnapping, and drug and arms trafficking.
Federal Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Sánchez Santiago has three outstanding warrants for aggravated homicide. Two concern three victims; the third concerns events in 2020. García Harfuch also linked Los Cromos to the killing of a four-year-old girl in Juchitán and said a reward of up to 2 million pesos had been offered for information leading to the suspect’s capture.
Authorities link Los Cromos to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The report describes alleged operations in Juchitán, Tehuantepec, Salina Cruz, Ciudad Ixtepec and Matías Romero, including demands for protection payments and drug and arms trafficking.
Investigators also allege that political and police protection helped the group operate safe houses and access Juchitán’s C2 surveillance cameras to track security forces. The report connects those investigations to the September 23 arrests of then-mayor Miguel Sánchez Altamirano, known as “Quetu,” and former municipal security commissioner John Keny Moreno Segura. They were accused of favoring Los Cromos in investigations involving aggravated extortion, offenses against state security and alleged protection of criminal organizations.
The federal Security and Citizen Protection Secretariat said more than 250 people had been detained through Operation Sable, including commanders, financial operators and Juchitán’s former mayor. That broader operation grew from intelligence work begun in 2025; the figure is separate from Sánchez Santiago’s three reported homicide warrants.
Original report from El Diario de Chihuahua