Army Seizes Homemade ‘Monstruo’ Armored Trucks at Guasave Workshop — and Around 8 More Vehicles, Some Armored, at a Second Sinaloa Warehouse
Mexican soldiers seized three vehicles fitted with homemade armor, including one of the heavily plated trucks known in Sinaloa as a “monstruo,” along with a property allegedly used as a workshop to armor vehicles for organized crime groups in Guasave, Sinaloa, Noroeste reported on Sept. 24, 2026. A second warehouse in the city held around eight more vehicles, at least four of them armored, plus high-powered weapons, according to Línea Directa. None of the outlets reported any arrests.
The Del Bosque workshop
According to Noroeste, Mexico’s federal Security Cabinet confirmed in a joint statement that Mexican Army troops carried out the operation in the Del Bosque neighborhood. Besides the “monstruo,” troops found two other vehicles with armor modifications. Noroeste reported that authorities secured the property where vehicles were allegedly being modified and reinforced for use by organized crime groups. The Security Cabinet did not name a specific criminal group.
Noroeste said the raid came after a large Army deployment that began on Monday, Sept. 21, in western Guasave, where troops executed a search warrant. Federal authorities are still working to determine what the vehicles were and how the site was used.
A second warehouse in Las Golondrinas
Línea Directa reported that on the afternoon of Sept. 24, an agent from Mexico’s federal organized-crime prosecutor’s office arrived at a warehouse in the Las Golondrinas area of western Guasave. Soldiers and state police had been guarding the property since that Tuesday. The agent certified the seizure of around eight vehicles, at least four of them armored, including a white Suburban, a blue Ford Bronco, a white Cheyenne and a gray Dodge RAM. Línea Directa, citing federal sources, said high-powered weapons were also found. The vehicles and weapons were then towed to an impound lot.
Línea Directa also reported that federal sources said more raids could follow elsewhere in the city.
A “monstruo” under construction
Luz Noticias separately reported that on Sept. 23, soldiers on patrol in the Guasave area noticed luxury pickups outside a property and found armored vehicles inside. Among them were a black “monstruo” with homemade armor and a second one still being built, plus a recent-model white Ford Lobo and a black GMC Sierra. The outlet did not say whether this was the same Del Bosque site. Luz Noticias noted that other properties used to armor vehicles for different organized crime factions have been seized in Sinaloa.
Sources
- Noroeste: Hallan ‘monstruo’ y taller para modificar vehículos durante operativo en Guasave (Sept. 24, 2026)
- Línea Directa (Ararak Salomón): Realizan traslado de vehículos blindados asegurados en bodega de Guasave tras intervención de FGR (Sept. 24, 2026)
- Luz Noticias (Sebastián Martínez): Aseguran taller clandestino que fabricaba tanques artesanales, en Guasave (Sept. 24, 2026)
Reported Sept. 25, 2026, from Sinaloa news outlets’ accounts, including a federal Security Cabinet statement as described by Noroeste. The Narco Blog did not review the official statement directly. Details such as vehicle counts differ slightly between outlets. No arrests or specific criminal group had been publicly identified as of this report.