Three masked men carjacked two women at gunpoint on a Tijuana street Wednesday morning, only to be arrested minutes later by municipal police who discovered more than 38 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine hidden inside the stolen Ford Expedition.
The armed robbery took place around 11 a.m. on Calle Magdalena in Colonia Sonora, a residential area in Tijuana’s southern corridor. The suspects forced the two women out of their SUV using what later turned out to be a prop firearm. The victims immediately flagged down a nearby municipal police patrol, setting off a rapid pursuit.
Three Suspects Arrested Within Minutes
Officers caught two of the three men near the Mercado de Todos on Avenida Industrial, a well-known open-air market in the area. They arrested the third suspect near Hospital del Prado. The entire chase lasted only minutes.
Police identified the three suspects as Alan Moisés, 33, from Estado de México; José Alfredo, 29, from Tijuana; and Dan-Ja Abdali, 31, also from Tijuana. Officers recovered two black balaclavas and the replica firearm used in the robbery.
Drug Stash Found in Spare Tire
When officers searched the recovered Ford Expedition, they found more than 38 kilograms (about 84 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine concealed inside a spare tire in the trunk. At recent wholesale prices, the shipment could carry a street value of hundreds of thousands of dollars on the U.S. side of the border.
The discovery raised immediate questions about the two women who reported the carjacking. According to the police account, both women left the scene before officers found the drugs. Their quiet departure strongly suggests they were transporting the methamphetamine and had no interest in sticking around for a vehicle search.
Carjackers Appear to Have Targeted Wrong Vehicle
The suspects appear to have been unaware of the drug cargo hidden in the SUV. Whether the carjacking was a random act of street crime or a deliberate attempt to intercept the shipment remains under investigation. Tijuana has long been a staging ground for northbound drug loads, and vehicles carrying hidden narcotics are regularly seized in neighborhoods near the international border.
Colonia Sonora sits in Tijuana’s central-south area, not far from the commercial zones that many cross-border visitors pass through. The Mercado de Todos, where two suspects were caught, is a sprawling market known to locals and tourists alike.
The case was first reported by Punto Norte on May 6.