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One of Mexico’s most violent cartels already has its own elite unit of drone operators, a group of highly-trained hitmen dedicated to manipulating these commercial devices and turning them into flying bombs to use against rival cartels and Mexican authorities, they revealed. US-based security analysts, Mexican officials, and even members of the cartel itself told The Daily Beast.
Although the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) began to assemble commercial drones more than four years ago, the creation of specialized units indicates that the criminal organization increased its armed operations with this type of device.
“We started training as a group in 2021, but only this year we started operating,” a member of the group called Drone Operators of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, on condition of anonymity.
According to the interview conducted by journalist Luis Chaparro, this unit is mainly dedicated to finding and attacking rival cartels such as Viagras, The Knights Templar in Michoacan and the Sinaloa cartel in Jalisco.
“It depends on the drone we use, but we can be miles away and confirm that [los rivales] They are in a certain house or vehicle and then crash the drone with the explosives”, said the CJNG member.
They operate in Michoacán and Jalisco
The group has even devised its own badge to distinguish itself among the various armed groups of the cartel led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantesalias “El Mencho”.
It consists of an image of a quadcopter drone and the face of a skull in the center. The patch has the letters of the CJNG at the bottom and the words “Operadores Droneros” at the top.
The group is reportedly made up of a dozen men and currently operates only in the states of Michoacán and Jalisco, according to the cartel operator.
“The Drone Operators is still a new and not very widespread group within the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, but that does not mean that it is harmless; they have enough power to focus our attention on thema Mexican intelligence officer within the Mexican military told The Daily Beast, who also requested anonymity.
Similarly, a Mexican state police officer operating in the state of Michoacán confirmed to the same outlet the existence of drone operators working within the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel.
The drones used by the cartel are mainly produced in China and purchased online through retail platforms such as Amazon or Ebay. Once in the hands of the cartel’s henchmen, they rig them to transport a load of improvised explosives including potassium perchlorate and aluminum, among other ingredients.
Trained by Americans and Colombians
In a video obtained by The Daily Beast, supposedly taken from inside the Drone Operators unit in Michoacán, one of the criminals can be seen putting explosive charges inside plastic bottles. The images show some nails and pellets around the work area, and a DJI commercial drone in the back of a pickup truck.
The video was allegedly recorded a few hours before an attack on the Knights Templar in the small town of Apatzingán, Michoacán, in August of this year.
The drone operations unit was first trained by “Americans and a Colombian man” who showed them how to obtain, fly and detonate a commercial droneaccording to the cartel source.
“A gringo [estadounidense] he showed us how to make our own explosives, as getting a real plastic explosive might be too flashy. And the Colombian taught us to handle and maneuver a drone, ”he said.
Explosive drones have been some of the deadliest weapons used by cartels against Mexican authorities. That became abundantly clear in November 2022, when a convoy of the Mexican army was attacked with explosive drones by henchmen of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel as they approached the small town of Tepalcatepec in Michoacán. Four died and six others were injured in the incident, according to news reports.
Keep reading:
– Drones with explosives, the new drug hitmen in Mexico.
– Drones, missiles and land mines: The weapons of war with which the CJNG sows terror in Mexico.