There Are Currently Over 5 Thousand Narco Stores In Baja California

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

In 2017, when Daniel de la Rosa Anaya served as Secretary of Public Security of Baja California, the intelligence team of that agency had "identified and geo-referenced in the State Intelligence Center, with their criminal structures of dealers and distributors," a total of 3,200 drug dealing stores in the state.

The statistics were compiled from complaints, investigations, arrests and operations. The territories were constantly monitored to prevent the reopening of illicit businesses, and thus keep drug dealers out of circulation.

Today, there is no such detailed record of the criminal operation of drug dealers in Baja California, but unofficially it is known that the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, which is still headed by retired General Gilberto Landeros, recognizes5 thousand illicit businesses in neighborhoods, dedicated to the sale of narcotics in their different modalities. From marijuana and cocaine, to synthetic drugs such as crystal meth, heroin and the fatal fentanyl, among many others.

This means that, in a period of at least five years and taking into account the records of 2017 and the unofficial information of 2022, in BC there has been an increase of some 1,800 narco-shops.

Of these thousands of stores, the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) has initiated proceedings and obtained search warrants for 1,178 points of sale, of which they have been able to prosecute 398 in Tijuana, 284 in Mexicali and 196 in Ensenada.

Despite the fact that there is no registry of illicit drug sales businesses, the state authorities have identified drug dealers, whether through investigations, citizen complaints or operations. The official count is that at least 78 drug dealers with faces, names and 15 nicknames have been identified: 26 of them operate in Tijuana, there are some new ones and others recycled in the midst of impunity: eleven operate in Ensenada and 17 correspond to Mexicali, including some from the new municipality of San Felipe, linked to "Los Chapitos".

Of the 2,107 violent deaths in BC as of Thursday, October 6, 8 out of 10 - 1,686 corpses - are related to the sale of drugs on the streets. As happened to Kevin Yael, 14 years old, murdered in September by drug dealers who commit crimes in the Tijuana River sewer system, where authorities also have a list of eleven wanted drug dealers, including Raúl León Fregoso "El Güero", one of the suspects of participating in the murder of the teenager. All are still at large.

Among those who have been arrested is 29-year-old Luis Alfredo. On September 21, he was caught with two bags of fentanyl aboard a GMC Terrain in Infonavit Chihuahua. On Tuesday, September 13, Oliver, 23, was apprehended with 32 bags of methamphetamine; he was already wanted for several robberies with violence in the Villa Fontana, Villa del Real, Mariano Matamoros and El Florido areas.

These drug dealers are part of the little more than 800 drug dealers that the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Tijuana captures per month.

On average, more than 15,000 drug dealers are presented to the FGE every year by Baja California's operational forces. Currently, 74% are captured in Tijuana; 11% in Ensenada; 10% in Mexicali; 3% in Rosarito and 2% in Tecate.

The stories are similar throughout the state, only the numbers vary. On September 14, in the Rivera Campestre neighborhood in Mexicali, the State Citizen Security Force (FESC) arrested a dealer, 38-year-old Narciso "N", from Sinaloa, in whose backpack he was carrying a 9 millimeter pistol with a loaded magazine and eleven rounds; 107 bags of methamphetamine; 35 bags of heroin; 18 bags of cocaine and 61 bags of marijuana.

According to the comparative report -2021 vs. 2022- of drug dealing, presented in September by the FGE, the number of arrest warrants granted for this crime increased from 209 to 1,153; the number of indictments increased from 1,413 to 1,750; the number of sentences increased from 115 to 224; and the number of searches increased from 1,048 to 1,178.

Because they are first-time offenders, most of the defendants are released from custody, receive legal benefits and do not spend time in prison.

Just this week, the Tecate Regional Prosecutor's Office reported an alleged "abbreviated procedure" in which it obtained a sentence of seven months and 25 days for crimes against health, against Juan Pablo Ramírez Rochín, arrested on October 21, 2021 in the Santa Anita subdivision with four bags of crystal meth.

With 6,501 files initiated between January and August 2022, Baja California is currently in third place nationally in terms of drug dealing and represents 11.2% of the national incidence -58,360- , only below the 7,568 files (13%) of Coahuila and the 14,913 (25.6%) of Guanajuato. The three entities concentrate 59.8% of the country's incidence.

In 2019, the year with the highest number of cases processed in BC, this entity represented 14.8% of the incidence in the whole country.

In this regard, the Judicial Power of Baja California reported that between January and September, for the crime of drug dealing, 1,147 arrest warrants were granted to the prosecutor's office; 2,025 people were brought to trial and 270 defendants were sentenced.

THE 26 IN TIJUANA

The city is overrun, but the areas with the highest incidence detected by the government are: Playas de Tijuana, Fundadores, Zona Río, 20 de Noviembre, Industrial Pacífico, La Joya, Jardines de La Mesa, Colinas de California, Libertad Infonavit Otay, Cerro Colorado, Mariano Matamoros, Florido, Jardín Dorado, Natura, Sánchez Taboada, Zona Norte Villafontana and Terrazas del Valle.   

Among the new names displayed by the authorities in the following neighborhoods are:

La Presa:

- Ruben Alonso Limon "El Banano" and/or "El Taxista" of the Sinaloa Cartel.

- Natzul Arawn Suarez Moreno "El Moreno", also from Sinaloa.

Operators of Rafael Miranda and Antonio Rubio on the side of "Los Mayos":

Centenario:

Aldo Coria Perez "El Negro" of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Playas de Tijuana:

Bertha Alicia López Gómez "La Licho", of the Arellano Félix Cartel (CAF).

Head of the cell involved in the murder of Juan Pablo Rodríguez Gil, former leader of the now defunct Nueva Alianza Party, shot on Isla Coronado Street in Playas de Tijuana on the night of Wednesday, September 28; he died the following day at the General Hospital.

Downtown Delegation:

-Víctor Manuel Amador Luna "El Padrino", of the CAF.

- Arturo Odilón Juárez "El Halcón", CAF.

The same delegation includes old acquaintances on the "Most Wanted" list between 2015 and 2018, and then they were conveniently forgotten. The successors, relatives or compadres of Luis Manuel Toscano Rodríguez "El Mono", killed in 2015, related to the CAF who have flirted from time to time with the Sinaloa Cartel.

- Diego Abel Miranda Rodríguez "El Kateo"

- Francisco Rabadán Gudiño "El Aguacate" (The Avocado)

- Roberto Carlos Toscano Rodríguez "El Cuate" (Roberto Carlos Toscano Rodríguez "El Cuate")

- Luis Alexis Toscano Varela "El Luisillo".

La Presa/Sánchez Taboada: of the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation:

- Rodolfo Lopez Arellano "Cabo 30".

- Javier Adrián Beltrán Cabrera

-Isaac Alhiu Chávez Cabrera.

Centenario/Zona Norte/Playas:

Israel Alejandro Vázquez "Cabo 50'", who relocated from Jalisco to Sinaloa.

La Mesa/Sánchez Taboada/Cerro Colorado:

- David Lopez Jimenez "Cabo 20", from CAF.

-Jesús Rafael Miranda Yocupicio "Cabezón", from Sinaloa

- José Loreto Capoema Rivera "El Versi," Sinaloa Cartel

- José Luis Mendoza Uriarte ¨El Güero Chompas¨, head of the "Los Uriarte" cell, also from Sinaloa.

-José Luis Martínez Hernández "El Secre", from CAF or Sinaloa, as appropriate; he is incarcerated in the Tijuana Social Reinsertion Center, but authorities reiterate that he has operatives working outside the prison.

San Antonio de Los Buenos/ Playas de Tijuana:

-Pedro Herrera Estrada "Don Piter" affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel.

- Pedro Stanley Herrera Jelinek "El Peter Jr", son of the former, allied with CJNG until earlier this year; authorities do not define his current location.

- Jesús Rafael Miranda Yocupicio "Cabezón", from Sinaloa.

Channeling:

Although authorities warn of a strong presence of CAF vendors, state authorities incorporated in the Pacification Tables warn of a type of agreement that allows for:   

Jose Antonio Soto Gastelum "El Tigre", of Sinaloa Cartel, with current residence in the Primo Tapia region in Rosarito, to exercise overall control, manage and account for the rest of the vendors.

In this extensive point of sale, authorities are looking for José de Jesús Martínez Velázquez "El Pelón"; Rubén Martínez Velázquez "El Dener"; and José Luis Munguía Palomino "Michigan", from the CAF.

Julio Enrique Enciso Muñoz, Eduardo Zazueta Méndez, Erick Oliver Centeno Ceballos and Jonathan David Hernández, from the Sinaloa Cartel; and José Guadalupe Verdín, from the CJNG.

Wanted only by nickname and in the process of being fully identified, the police corporations reported, in La Presa, "El Mister" and "El Meño", from Sinaloa; in Centenario, "El Tigre" and "El Rayo", from the CAF; and "El Beto" in Colonia Libertad, without a known affiliation to a cartel.

In Sanchez Taboada: "La Tomata" and "La Paloma" in Colonia Amparo Sanchez y cañones; and in San Antonio de los Buenos, the cell of "Los Oaxacos".

Among the Tijuana drug dealers, authorities still included Alfredo Heynez Alonso "El Flaco de Otay," a Sinaloa operator with Los Arzate, arrested and released three times between 2010 and 2018, who according to Municipal Police records, died this year in a car accident. They report the cell committing crimes, but do not identify the successor.

ELEVEN RINGLEADERS IN ENSENADA AND 37 OPERATORS

The territories with the most drug movement detected were: Santa Anita, El Sauzal, Zona Centro, Rancho Verde, Valle Dorado, Villa Roble, Salvador Rosas Magallón, Chapultepec, El Salitral, El Bajío and Maneadero.

In the port municipality, they initially identified the drug dealers they consider to be the most active:

Maneadero:

Leopoldo Lizárraga Ochoa "El Pantera", of the Pacific Cartel, a native of Sinaloa, where he has a record for common law crimes. He has been wanted in Baja California since 2017.

Cedros Island:

"Los Venados", dedicated to drug trafficking and marijuana; one of the brothers, Jesus Salvador Villavicencio, was arrested on June 23, 2020 for the murder of a state Public Prosecutor's Office agent.

Authorities are currently tracking:

- Cesar Roberto Villavicencio Meza of the Sinaloa Cartel.

- German Villavicencio Meza, also from Sinaloa.

Francisco Zarco:

- Daniel Lara Lozano, allied to CAF and CJNG.

- Lino Lara Lozano "El Uno", linked to CAF and CJNG

- Felipe de Jesús Ortega Ruiz "Felipón", servant of the Sinaloa cartel.

El Sauzal:

María de la Luz Segura Hernández, operator of the Los Arzate cell from Sinaloa.

Popular 89:

Julio Cesar Hernandez Armenta "El Perro," of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Morelos 2:

José Luis Gutiérrez Caranda "Cochi", of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Central Zone:

Sonia Isabel Ramirez "La China", also from Sinaloa.

Villas del Real:

Luis Ángel Uraña Bolaños, of the Sinaloa Cartel-Pacific Cartel.

In the case of Ensenada, the authorities integrated to the Coordination Table for the Construction of Peace and Security, are paying particular attention and highlight the criminal activity of two criminal cells; 37 men and women who commit crimes for two groups CAF and CJNG, according to their convenience, both under the criminal guidance of Luis Enrique Beltran Rodriguez "El Apago".

* In the area of Francisco Zarco and Porvenir, headed by Osvaldo Lara Lozano and his brothers Lino and Daniel. Group in which the police identified 12 drug dealers and five hired killers with faces and names.

* The Lara are identified as responsible for the narcomantas threatening police officers in the Francisco Zarco area in Valle de Guadalupe on September 30, and in March 2022, in the area of the Wine Museum building and in Los Olivares.

* In San Antonio de las Minas, the crimes are orchestrated by Juan Andrés, who has eleven identified drug dealers and five thugs at his service.

Corporations are also looking for Mario Ángel Gutiérrez as the arms supplier to these cells.

OF 18, ONLY 9 IDENTIFIED IN MEXICALI

The neighborhoods with the most problems ion the map are Santa Isabel, Los Jazmines, Las Palmeras, Pueblo Nuevo, San José, La Ahumadita, Palo Verde, Hidalgo, Centro Cívico, Independencia, González Ortega, El Edén, Parajes de Puebla and La Ladrillera.

In Mexicali, to begin with, there are the drug dealers at the service of "Los Menores Guzmán", allegedly responsible for the murders of subdirector Erik Aguilera Barajas and commander Norberto Ornelas Nava, on September 20 in San Felipe.

- Levit Muñoz Rivera "El Levit".

- Ruben Omar Rosarte "El Choco".

Condor:

-Jorge Luis Ceseña Fraga "El Chore", of "Los Rusos".

- Rubén Montaño "El Negro", independent.

Bugambilias:

Jesus Osuna "El Chuy", of "Los Rusos".

Condesa:

Germán Isaac Cárdenas "El Güero", of Los Salazar.

Nationalist:

- Carlos Gael "El Cloch", operator of "Los Rusos".

- José Manuel Alvarado "El Meño", trafficker for Los Salazar.

San Carlos:

Roberto Macias Espinoza "El Piojo", drug dealer at the service of "Los Chapitos".

By nickname and in the process of identification, the capital of Baja California has the highest number, the aliases mentioned below have been repeated in multiple folders, but they still do not have a name and face.

From the cell of "Los Rusos" they still do not know who "El Roche", "El Kalimba", "El Yucateco" and "El Pelón" are; from "Los Chapitos" they are tracking "Jovany", "El Chore" and "El Andrés" from San Felipe; "El Chino" from Los Salazar and "La Cuina", classified as independent.

Authorities are calling on the public to denounce drug dealers and small shops by reporting them to the number 800-FGEBC-20 (800-34322-20). Also to the 911 and 089 emergency numbers, which are operated by the Baja California State Department of Citizen Security. Or to the Army, through the lines (664) 685-0297 and/or (664) 636-6897, as well as the e-mail denuncia.2zm@sedena.gob.mx.

Zeta Tijuana