Dozens Have Been Detained in Sinaloa Since the Beginning of Cartel Turf Wars in Northern Mexico

SEATTLE - For over a month now, the Mexican state of Sinaloa has been living in limbo. Turf wars between factions of the now defunct eponymous Cartel has led to hundreds of deaths and missing people. Hundreds of federal troops have been sent to the state, leading to dozens of arrests as well as the confiscation of hundreds of firearms.

Since the conflict between the "Chapitos" and the "Mayiza" formally began on September 9, around to 200 deaths have been officially reported throughout the state, quickly making it one of the most dangerous in Mexico. Out of the 463 total murders reported in 2024, about 40% of them have happened since the turf wars began.

In that context, authorities are seeking to rein in on the criminal organizations. According to Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection in Sinaloa, 46 people involved with criminal organizations have been detained by law enforcement over the past month. Sánchez added that authorities have also seized about 300 firearms as well as 153 vehicles, out of which 35 of them count with armored plating.

During Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya weekly press conference, the official revealed that some of the vehicles confiscated by authorities were "cloned units," a common practice by cartels and other criminal groups in which a vehicle's identification number is used to hide the identity of a stolen one. In this case, Sánchez said that eight of them were police motorcycles, two patrol cars and one ambulance.

Sánchez, who has been at the head of Sinaloa's Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection for little over a year, added that the seizures and arrests reflect some of the measures put in place by the local and federal government to put an end to the violence in the region, but urged civilians to keep on collaborating with anonymous reports of crimes so authorities can take action.

Investigations underway

Mérida Sánchez added that Mexico's Attorney General's Office currently has opened 93 investigations related to crimes committed in Sinaloa in which federal agents have been involved.

During this past weekend, more members of the Mexican National Guard, Army and Navy continued to make their way to Sinaloa as part of Claudia Sheinbaum's plan to counter violence in the state.

Although measures have been put in place, things continue to be out of control in northern Mexico. Between Oct. 12-13, Excélsior reported that 18 people were killed in Sinaloa: 15 of them in Culiacán, 2 in El Rosario and one in Elota. The news outlet also mentioned that, during the morning of Oct. 14, four more casualties were reported in the state's capital city.