Firearm Seizures in Mexico More Than Double Under Claudia Sheinbaum's Administration: Report

Mexico has been implementing a strategy to secure weapons coming from the United States to prevent them from getting to criminal organizations.

Since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office, the number of weapons confiscated by authorities has doubled compared to what was reported during the administration of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, according to data compiled by Milenio.

As reported by the outlet, data from the Defense and Navy ministries, along with information requests to Mexico's National Customs Agency and the National Guard, show that in the first year and a half of the Sheinbaum administration, officials have seized 26,952 weapons.

During her presidency, Sheinbaum has repeatedly said that if the United States wants to see a decrease in drug trafficking, it should stop the flow of weapons across the border.

Amid comments from President Donald Trump earlier this month calling Mexico the "epicenter of cartel violence," Sheinbaum responded that most of the weapons used by those organizations continue to come from the United States.

"The criminal groups, the weapons they have, at least 75 percent of them come from the United States," Sheinbaum said, citing a statistic confirmed by the U.S. Department of State that most of the guns used by criminal groups in Mexico were smuggled from the United States.

"If the flow of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico were stopped, these groups wouldn't have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities," Sheinbaum added.

As noted by Milenio, although weapons seizures in Mexico have increased through operations, checkpoints and inspections in strategic areas targeting organized crime, there has been little change in the United States in terms of controls aimed at curbing weapons trafficking into Mexico.

Despite the increase in seizures, a report by The New York Times notes that drug cartels are now using more sophisticated methods to maintain the flow of firearms into Mexico.

Smugglers increasingly use private groups on messaging apps and social media platforms to advertise and arrange sales, creating closed networks that are constantly refreshed to avoid detection, and in some cases traffickers have begun bribing gun store employees to falsify records or facilitate off-the-books transactions.

Smugglers who spoke to the outlet said moving firearms across the border remains easy, with one saying "no one stops you unless you run a red light."

Estimates from Mexican authorities suggest that up to 500,000 firearms are smuggled annually from the United States into Mexico, though former agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives believe the number could reach 1 million.

Another report detailed that cartels are also obtaining high-caliber ammunition from a plant located at a U.S. government-owned facility that manufactures rounds used by the military.

The facility is located outside Kansas City and also supplies ammunition to the retail market, where civilians can purchase it, a situation that has allowed criminal organizations to obtain rounds used by the military to destroy vehicles and light aircraft.