Tijuana municipal police arrested four people on Saturday in connection with the discovery of dismembered human remains found inside plastic bags in the Camino Verde neighborhood, one of several violent incidents across the city over a single weekend.
Camino Verde Discovery Led to Four Arrests Within Hours
Officers responding to reports of suspicious bags near Camino Verde found human remains that had been dismembered and discarded. The Baja California FGE (state attorney general’s office) took over the investigation and confirmed four suspects were detained at the scene or nearby shortly after the discovery.
The arrests came during a weekend marked by multiple acts of violence across Tijuana. Separately, a shooting at a bar left one person dead and another injured. In yet another incident, a body was found wrapped and abandoned on a different street. The FGE has not publicly linked the cases, but the concentration of violent events over a 48-hour period drew wide attention in local media.
Tijuana recorded 1,287 homicides in 2024, according to data compiled by the state’s Secretaría de Seguridad Ciudadana. That figure represented a modest decline from the 1,375 recorded in 2023, but the city remains one of Mexico’s most violent municipalities. The per-capita homicide rate has stayed above 60 per 100,000 residents for six consecutive years.
Camino Verde sits in Tijuana’s eastern sprawl, a working-class area far from the tourist corridor along Avenida Revolución and the border crossing zones. But the pattern of dismemberment killings is not confined to any single neighborhood. The practice, often associated with cartel enforcement and territorial disputes, has been documented in colonias across the city, from Sánchez Taboada to Mariano Matamoros.
Baja California Homicide Rates Remain High Despite State Security Push
Governor Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda launched an expanded security strategy in early 2024 called “Fuerza Estatal,” which deployed additional state police units to Tijuana, Mexicali, and Ensenada. The program added roughly 300 officers to Tijuana patrols and increased coordination between municipal police and the Guardia Nacional (Mexico’s federal national guard force).
Despite those deployments, high-profile violent incidents have continued. In March 2025, authorities discovered a clandestine burial site in the Maclovio Rojas colonia with at least 12 sets of remains. In January, a shootout between rival groups near the Otay Mesa border crossing prompted U.S. Customs and Border Protection to temporarily slow southbound traffic.
The persistence of violence has practical consequences for anyone living in or passing through Tijuana. The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana maintains a Level 2 travel advisory for Baja California, recommending “increased caution.” Certain colonias carry unofficial Level 3 or Level 4 designations in consular security briefings shared with U.S. citizens abroad.
Real estate agents working with American buyers in Playas de Tijuana and the Zona Río commercial district report that clients frequently ask about neighborhood-level crime data before signing leases. Tijuana’s municipal transparency portal publishes monthly crime maps, though the data typically lags by 60 to 90 days.
Weekend Violence Follows a Recurring Pattern in Tijuana
Clusters of violent incidents over short periods are not unusual in Tijuana. Security analysts who track cartel activity along the border corridor note that weekends, particularly around paydays and holiday periods, tend to see spikes. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have contested control of Tijuana’s drug distribution routes for years.
Local business owners in affected neighborhoods often bear the economic cost. After previous clusters of violence, shops in eastern Tijuana colonias reported drops in foot traffic lasting one to two weeks. Street vendors in Camino Verde told local reporters they closed early on Saturday after word of the discovery spread.
The four detained suspects remain in FGE custody pending formal charges. Under Mexico’s criminal justice system, prosecutors have up to 72 hours from arraignment to present sufficient evidence for a judge to issue a formal detention order, known as a vinculación a proceso. If charges are filed, the case would be heard in Baja California’s oral trial courts in the Tijuana judicial district.
The FGE has not released the identities of the victims or the suspects. A press conference is expected early this week. This article draws on reporting from Punto Norte and El Imparcial de Tijuana.