Four suspected cartel weapons suppliers arrested in Culiacán
Federal authorities said four men were detained in an operation supported by U.S. intelligence, with a machine gun, three handguns, ammunition and drugs seized.
Federal forces arrested four suspected members of a cell accused of trafficking, transporting, maintaining and repairing weapons for the Sinaloa Cartel in Culiacán, according to El Diario de Chihuahua. The operation drew on information shared by U.S. authorities.
Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch identified two of those detained as Germán “N” and Mario “N,” known as “Pokémon.” He said they had arrest warrants for organized crime and arms trafficking.
El Diario de Chihuahua reported that investigators seized a machine gun, three handguns, magazines, more than 400 rounds of ammunition and 200 doses of drugs. The report did not identify the drug.
The federal Attorney General’s Office, through its Criminal Investigation Agency, and the federal Security Ministry led the operation with the Army, National Guard and Sinaloa authorities. Officials attributed the arrests to intelligence work and information exchanged with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI.
The Security Ministry described the men as part of a weapons supply and maintenance network and said the arrests disrupted some of the organization’s weapons transport operations.
The operation comes amid violence between Sinaloa Cartel factions identified in the report as Los Chapitos and La Mayiza. García Harfuch said more than 36,300 firearms had been seized during the current federal administration, with 20 percent of that total seized in Sinaloa. Those figures describe the administration-wide tally, separate from the weapons recovered in this operation.
Original report: El Diario de Chihuahua.