Drones and Surveillance Tech for Baja California Prosecutors: Tijuana Firm Sanctioned in ‘Mayito Flaco’ Network Billed Them Millions — While the Man the U.S. Ties to It Was Listed on Their Press Staff
A Tijuana security company that the U.S. Treasury sanctioned on Sept. 29, 2026, as part of a Sinaloa Cartel money-laundering network sold surveillance technology and drones to Baja California’s state prosecutors for years, Los Ángeles Press reported Oct. 1. Records also list the man Treasury ties to the firm on the prosecutors’ press staff. The company, Inteliproof Efficient, was one of 25 businesses named in the sanctions against “Mayito Flaco” Zambada Sicairos’ Los Mayos faction in Tijuana, across from San Diego.
What Treasury alleges
Treasury’s Sept. 29 release says Tijuana-based Marco Antonio Moreno Gómez Santelices and Carlos Villela Gómez Santelices run “a network of security, real estate, and entertainment companies that also launder money for the Sinaloa Cartel” and for René Arzate García, “La Rana,” the cartel’s alleged Tijuana boss. Inteliproof Efficient is among 10 of those businesses that OFAC sanctioned. Sanctions are not criminal charges. We found no public response from the men or the company.
Surveillance tech, drones and a press badge
Los Ángeles Press reporter Guadalupe Lizárraga found at least 20 Inteliproof invoices to the Baja California State Attorney General’s Office (FGEBC) in 2023, totaling 9.94 million pesos (about $530,000). She reports that the company supplied technology tied to the interception of private communications, the surveillance of people and the tracking of devices. The office withheld details, saying disclosure could help criminals evade it. The outlet documented at least 6.05 million pesos more in 2024–2025 contracts with companies linked to Santelices, a figure it calls partial.
Two FGEBC reports dated Nov. 29, 2024, sign Moreno Gómez as a “Reportero en Información” in the office’s communications department. They describe assignments in Tijuana, Rosarito and San Quintín.
A federal appointee among the founders
Proceso and Diario de Yucatán reported Sept. 30 that Baja California’s state government also awarded Inteliproof three no-bid contracts in 2024, worth 3,040,469.31 pesos before tax., for computer equipment, protective clothing and vehicle parts. Both outlets say the company was founded in December 2020 by Moreno Gómez Santelices and Jorge Enrique Figueroa Barrozo, who led the Canacintra industry chamber in Tijuana from 2021 to 2024. In November 2024, then-Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard named him coordinator of a federal economic corridor in Baja California. Treasury did not sanction him. Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila, whose ex-husband Carlos Torres was also sanctioned, has ordered a review of state contracts with sanctioned firms, Proceso reported.
W Radio México on how the sanctions reached the governor and her ex-husband:
Sources
- Los Ángeles Press (Guadalupe Lizárraga): “Fiscalía de Baja California contrató por años red sancionada por OFAC” (Oct. 1, 2026); English edition
- U.S. Department of the Treasury: “Treasury Sanctions Sinaloa Cartel Leadership and Corruption Networks” (Sept. 29, 2026), as republished by GlobalSecurity.org; OFAC recent actions, Sept. 29, 2026
- Proceso (Aldo Canedo): “Gobierno de Marina del Pilar entregó 3 mdp en contratos a empresa vinculada por EU con el Cártel de Sinaloa” (Sept. 30, 2026)
- Diario de Yucatán: “Gobierno de Baja California dio millones en contratos a empresa ligada al Cártel de Sinaloa según EE.UU.” (Sept. 30, 2026)
- Photos: Los Ángeles Press, document images in its Oct. 1, 2026, report
Reported Oct. 1, 2026, from a U.S. Treasury release and Mexican press reports. U.S. sanctions are administrative designations, not criminal convictions, and no one named here has been charged in this matter. We did not independently review the contracts or invoices and found no public response from the people or companies named.