Armed Civilians Attack Jalisco State Police With Explosive Drones, Injuring One Officer

Violence linked to organized crime continues in Jalisco, this time with an attack against state police in the municipality of Colotlán, located in the northern part of the state near Zacatecas.

Authorities in Colotlán said that on March 9 they received a request for medical assistance for an officer in the municipality of Santa María, near the border with Zacatecas, after members of the Jalisco state police were shot at by armed civilians and later attacked with drones equipped with explosives.

The female officer was stabilized and later transferred by the Titán aerotactical squad, which transported her by air to the Guadalajara metropolitan area.

According to the officials the group of armed civilians fled after the attack and escaped into the state of Zacatecas. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

As noted by Infobae México, Colotlán was one of several municipalities across the country that experienced unrest from members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) on Feb. 22 following the death of Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, the longtime leader of the Jalisco cartel.

In recent years, Mexican cartels have significantly increased their use of drones in criminal operations. According to a report published last year by the Ministry of National Defense, drug cartels use drones because they are difficult to detect, relatively inexpensive, capable of precise navigation and subject to limited regulations from the government.

According to El Informador, a Jalisco based outlet, the Defense Ministry has identified the main criminal groups using drones as the CJNG, Cárteles Unidos and the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, all of which operate in Jalisco, Michoacán and Guanajuato.

According to a study conducted in late 2025, drone attacks in Mexico more than doubled in 2024 compared with the previous year. The report noted that Mexico recorded 77 drone attacks in 2024, compared with 35 in 2023. Henry Ziemer, an associate fellow for the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that cartels are buying signal jammers to protect themselves from attacks by rival factions.

"Mexico has been at the leading edge of illicit drone use not just as a weapon against the state and rivals, but also as a means of intimidating and pressuring the civilian population," the expert added.

In another part of the report, experts noted that cartels are recruiting teenagers and training them as surveillance and attack drone operators.

As reported by The Latin Times last year, a former member of the Jalisco cartel said in an interview that the group modifies agricultural drones to drop explosives on rival factions.

Similarly, U.S. officials have warned about the growing number of drone sightings involving criminal groups.

Steven Willoughby, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security's counter drone program, told a U.S. Senate committee last year that cartel operated drones conducted more than 27,000 flights within 500 meters of the southern border during the last six months of 2024.

"It's just a matter of time until Americans or law enforcement agents are targeted," Willoughby said, adding that cartel drones have been linked to more than 1,500 arrests along the southwest border.