Tijuana’s municipal police chief was removed from his post on Tuesday after state investigators discovered local officers allegedly providing security for a clandestine fentanyl laboratory. The dismissal of Alfredo Amador Leal, first reported by local outlets and confirmed by city officials, marks one of the most dramatic law enforcement shakeups in Tijuana in years and raises fresh questions about cartel infiltration of the city’s police force.
State Agents Found Tijuana Officers at a Fentanyl Lab in El Florido
The incident that triggered the firing took place in the El Florido neighborhood on Tijuana’s eastern edge. Agents from the FGE (Baja California’s state attorney general’s office) were executing a search warrant at a property suspected of housing a synthetic drug operation. When they arrived, they found municipal police officers stationed at the site, apparently acting as lookouts or guards for the lab.
The lab was reportedly producing fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that has become the dominant drug in Tijuana’s trafficking economy. Fentanyl labs have proliferated across the city since roughly 2018, when cartels shifted production from heroin to synthetics. The DEA has identified Tijuana as a primary corridor for fentanyl entering the United States through the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry.
Governor Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda confirmed Amador Leal’s removal and said the state would investigate the officers found at the scene. She did not specify how many officers were involved or whether arrests had been made at the time of her statement. The governor called the situation “unacceptable” and said the state government would work with the municipality to ensure accountability.
Amador Leal had served as Tijuana’s Secretario de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana, the top law enforcement position in the city’s municipal government. His tenure was relatively brief. He took the post under Mayor Ismael Burgueño Ruiz, who assumed office in October 2024 after the resignation of Montserrat Caballero Ramírez.
Tijuana Has Cycled Through Five Police Chiefs Since 2019
The removal fits a pattern that has defined Tijuana’s law enforcement leadership for years. The city has cycled through at least five police chiefs since 2019, with tenures cut short by scandals, political transitions, or security crises. The position is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous and politically exposed jobs in Baja California.
In 2019, then-chief Marco Antonio Sotomayor Amezcua resigned after clashes with the incoming state government of Jaime Bonilla. His successor lasted less than a year. Under Caballero Ramírez, the city went through two more security secretaries as homicide rates fluctuated and allegations of police corruption mounted.
Municipal police corruption in Tijuana is not a new phenomenon. In 2009, the federal government deployed the military to Tijuana and temporarily disarmed the entire municipal force after investigators found widespread cartel infiltration. Officers were required to undergo trust evaluations, known as exámenes de control de confianza, before being allowed to return to duty. Many never passed.
Those trust exams remain a tool for screening officers, but compliance has been inconsistent. A 2023 report from Mexico’s National Public Security System found that roughly 40% of municipal police officers in Baja California had not completed updated evaluations. The state ranked among the lowest in the country for compliance.
Fentanyl Lab Raids Have Increased Across Tijuana Since 2022
The discovery of the El Florido lab is part of a broader enforcement pattern. Mexican federal and state authorities dismantled at least 30 clandestine fentanyl labs in Baja California during 2023, with the majority concentrated in Tijuana’s peripheral colonias. El Florido, a sprawling residential area east of the city center, has been the site of previous raids.
Fentanyl production requires relatively modest infrastructure compared to older drug manufacturing operations. Labs can operate in ordinary houses or warehouses with chemical precursors imported from Asia, primarily China and India. The labs produce pills pressed to resemble pharmaceutical oxycodone, which are then smuggled north in vehicles or carried by pedestrians through legal ports of entry.
The presence of police officers guarding such a facility suggests a level of coordination between cartel operators and municipal law enforcement that goes beyond individual corruption. If the officers were assigned to the location through official channels, the investigation could implicate command-level officials beyond Amador Leal.
Tijuana’s next police chief has not yet been named. Mayor Burgueño Ruiz is expected to announce a replacement in the coming days. The FGE investigation into the officers found at the lab remains open, according to state government statements reported by Cadena Noticias and Zeta Tijuana.