Since 2016, Baja California is the first place in Mexico on the seizure of firearms according to the Executive Minister of the Public Security National System (SESNSP).
In addition, also since 2016, the U.S. government warned that the state was not only an essential point for arms trafficking but that they were assembled there to prevent them from being tracked.
In a report from that year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that Baja California, and especially Tijuana, is not only the entry for arms trafficking, but that organized crime groups have chosen to rebuild them to prevent being tracked.
“Recent seizures of arms, pieces, and equipment used to assemble or manufacture firearms in Mexico suggest an emerging instance from organized crime,” says the report.
GAO found a similar situation in Guadalajara, Jalisco regarding the assembly of weapons.
In that report, GAO informs that traffickers that arrive in Mexico use alternative markets to purchase them, such as gun shows in states of the American Union, where they do not need to perform a criminal background check.
Texas is the main arms exporter to Mexico, followed by California, with 18%, which is located next to Baja California.
No one is exempt from arms smuggling, according to state authorities, who remember that last March, the State Preventive Police (PEP) arrested a singer and informed about arms seizure.