A recent seizure by Mexican authorities unmasked a new development in which the Sinaloa Cartel is now obtaining state-of-the-art combat attack drones similar to the ones being used in the Russia-Ukraine war. The issue comes at a time when social media videos have surfaced showing Sinaloa Cartel gunmen fighting in the war as a way to get trained in the newest attack drone technology.
The seizure took place this week near Mazatlan, Sinaloa, where authorities seized 15 high-end drones with fiber optic wires, headsets, and controls, as well as 42 improvised explosive devices. The seizure raised alarms within Mexico’s security forces since the type of drones seized are not the typical commercial drones used by cartels — already a major security concern.
Mexico’s National Security Cabinet
Just one day after the initial seizure, Sinaloa state police forces seized 80 additional explosive devices that were made to be attached to drones.
As Breitbart Texas reported, in recent years, terrorist drug cartels have innovated the use of drones to carry and drop improvised explosive devices on rivals and Mexican military forces. The newly seized drones are state-of-the-art, using fiber-optic wires attached to the drone. This technology makes them nearly impossible to jam and lets the user pilot the attack drone into the intended target using a VR headset.
The seizure comes as a series of videos have surfaced online showing Mexican individuals claiming to be part of the Sinaloa Cartel operating in Ukraine, where they are believed to be receiving the latest training in drone warfare technology.
The use of drones has already become a national security concern in both nations, with the Mexican military and the U.S. government recently having run a joint drone interception operation on the U.S. southern border. In that operation, Mexican authorities reported seizing only a handful of drones used primarily for surveillance of smuggling operations. However, concerns continue to rise within the U.S. government as cartels become more desperate following the increasing border security, which has made it more difficult for terrorist cartels to smuggle drugs or humans across the border.
Last week, Breitbart Texas reported extensively on an attack by the Gulf Cartel where gunmen fired at U.S. Coast Guard boats in the Rio Grande, leading to the deployment of hundreds of U.S. military troops to shut down the area. As Breitbart Texas reported, Mexico’s military also deployed a group of navy infantrymen to secure the region on the south side; however, the country’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly claimed that they found no evidence of a shooting in the region.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.