The Narco Blog

80% of Guns Seized in Sinaloa Come From the U.S., Mexico’s Federal Prosecutor There Says — as Seizures in the Cartel War Doubled to 2,997 in a Year

By The Narco Blog · October 3, 2026

Mexican Army soldiers in orange welding aprons cut seized rifles with power saws beside display boards of confiscated rifles and pistols at a military base in Culiacán — Soldiers cut up seized guns during the destruction of 639 firearms at the Ninth Military Zone in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on Sept. 29, 2026. Photo: Sandra Solís, via Línea Directa.

Eight of every 10 guns seized in Sinaloa, home state of the Sinaloa Cartel, come from the United States. That’s according to Efraín Alonso Gastélum Padilla, who heads Mexico’s federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) in the state. He gave the figure in an interview reported by Noroeste on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. It comes as gun seizures in Sinaloa have more than doubled during the cartel’s internal war.

What the federal prosecutor said

Gastélum Padilla told reporter Daniela Flores that every gun seized in Sinaloa is entered into a tracing system that follows it “from the country of origin to the state.” Noroeste spells the system “eTrance.” The U.S. ATF’s tracing system shared with Mexico is called eTrace. Some guns are made in Italy, Germany or Brazil, he said, “but 80 percent of the weapons that are seized come from the United States.”

He said there are investigations into how the guns get in, “coordinated with the United States government.” Those cases are run from the FGR’s headquarters. Asked whether they had shown who is bringing the weapons into Sinaloa, and by which routes, he answered: “All that information is at the central offices.” He did not name any suspects, routes or U.S. sources.

Seizures doubled in a year

Noroeste cited a 2025 security study by Sinaloa’s State Public Security Council. It says authorities seized 2,997 firearms in Sinaloa in 2025, up 107% from 1,448 in 2024. The Army (Defensa) made 2,964 of those seizures. The council’s coordinator, Miguel Calderón Quevedo, said Sinaloa now accounts for about 20% of Mexico’s gun seizures. The state has about 2.5% of the country’s population.

The same study found that 87.82% of Sinaloa’s intentional homicides in 2025 involved a firearm, compared with 75.03% nationally. Federal firearms-law cases rose from 550 in 2024 to 1,916 in 2025. There were another 1,211 from January to August 2026, the most of any Mexican state.

Two Mexican marines hang a 'Coordinación Interinstitucional Sinaloa' banner above rows of seized rifles, a belt-fed machine gun, magazines and bags laid out on a concrete floor — Rifles and a belt-fed machine gun laid out by Sinaloa’s joint security task force after an earlier seizure. This photo is not from the FGR interview or the Sept. 29 destruction. Photo: Archivo Noroeste, via Noroeste.

639 guns destroyed in Culiacán

On Sept. 29, the Army destroyed 639 firearms, 3,303 magazines and 153,065 rounds at the Ninth Military Zone in Culiacán. Línea Directa reported that Gov. Graciela Domínguez Nava attended. Julio César Islas Sánchez, the zone’s commander, said that brings this year’s total destroyed in Sinaloa to 2,523 guns. “We know well that destroying weapons does not by itself end violence,” he said, according to Noroeste.

Sources

Noroeste (Daniela Flores): Proviene de EU 80% de las armas aseguradas en Sinaloa: FGR (Oct. 3, 2026)
Línea Directa: Defensa destruye en Culiacán 639 armas de fuego y más de 3 mil cargadores decomisados en operativos (Sept. 29, 2026)
Photos: Sandra Solís, via Línea Directa; Archivo Noroeste, via Noroeste.

Reported Oct. 3, 2026. The 80% figure is the FGR official’s own estimate as reported by Noroeste. The FGR has not published the underlying trace data, and no specific trafficking cases or suspects were identified. Quotes are translated from Spanish.