The turf war between cartels in Mexico has become increasingly violent since September, prompting recently-elected Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to announce the creation of "Fuerza de Tarea," a plan that includes sending additional members to Sinaloa to provide support to local forces.
As the conflict has become deadlier, cartels have also become more technologically savvy, investing in everything from drones and drone jammers to surveillance cameras. Now comes news that high tech has also seemingly made its way into one of the most traditional tools that cartels have used in armed confrontations: narco tanks.
Originally, narco tanks were created by The Zetas, a group born our of deserters from the Mexican armed forces in the early 2010s out of trucks, tractors and pickups. In essence, these vehicles were adapted for cartels with steel platers, peripheral vision and turrets for placing long weapons.
A new piece by InSight Crime has revealed that the use of narco tanks is growing amid the escalating cartel wars, and technological innovations have helped them evolve from being a symbolic emblem to important tactical weapons used by everyone from the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación to the Northeast Cartel.
In fact, the report found that Mexico's National Defense Secretariat seized 277 vehicles mounted with homemade armor between January 2018 and June 2024.
"They are getting bigger, but above all, we are starting to see a very important leap in technology," explained Alexei Chévez Silveti, a security analyst and consultant in Mexico, to InSight Crime. "The latest vehicles to have been secured have signal inhibitor systems for drones, tools for perforating tires, and can transport eight to 10 people inside. They have turrets where you can put a rifle platform and closed-circuit television cameras that allow those inside the tank 360-degree vision."
But besides being more advanced, cartels have also discovered something that is proving to be a game changer: they're making them lighter:
"They carry light armor and are much more mobile, and much more operational. What is happening is of great significance and it has to do with the deterioration of security in many states of Mexico. If we look at the hundreds of vehicles that have been stolen in Sinaloa this month, specifically in Culiacán, we realize that they don't even need to buy them. They steal them, modify them, and then dispose of them."
Back in September, Mexico's Attorney General's Office (FGR) led a significant operation in Sonora which oversaw the destruction of, among other things, five narco tanks. The destruction was meant to highlight the use that organized crime gives them for carrying out criminal acts. "This is done so that citizens can see the lengths that organized crime goes to achieve its criminal objectives," he stated.
The FGR also revealed that, besides targeting the vehicles per se, they're also going after the specialized workshops.
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