Tijuana municipal police arrested a 40-year-old man from Sonora carrying 820 grams of fentanyl powder on Tuesday afternoon, May 26, in a residential neighborhood far from the city’s tourist corridors.
Officers stopped the suspect, identified as Ramón Enrique, in an alley near Calle Palmita in the Vivienda Popular neighborhood of the El Rubí area. The location is roughly one block from Boulevard Fundadores, a major east-west roadway in central Tijuana. Police said he was about to hand off a plastic bag containing the powder to members of a criminal group when officers intervened.
Suspect Allegedly Made Weekly Deliveries
According to Tijuana police, Ramón Enrique made weekly trips to deliver fentanyl powder to criminal organization members in the city. The recipients then processed and distributed the drug. Investigators did not publicly identify which criminal group was involved.
The suspect was turned over to Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la República, or FGR) on charges related to crimes against public health, the federal classification for drug offenses in Mexico.
A Significant Street-Level Seizure
At 820 grams, the seizure amounts to just under one kilogram of fentanyl powder. Fentanyl is roughly 100 times more potent than morphine. In powder form, the drug is especially hazardous because even trace amounts of skin contact or inhalation can cause overdose or death.
Tijuana has become the single most important fentanyl trafficking corridor along the U.S.-Mexico border. Between 2019 and 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized approximately 19,000 pounds of fentanyl entering San Diego from Tijuana, more than any other crossing point. The drug is typically produced in clandestine laboratories and stash houses across the city before being moved north.
Arrest Location in Central Tijuana
The Vivienda Popular and El Rubí neighborhoods sit in central Tijuana, well away from the Zona Norte tourist district and the Avenida Revolución entertainment strip. The area is primarily residential, home to working-class families. Boulevard Fundadores connects to major thoroughfares leading toward the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa border crossings.
The arrest follows a pattern of fentanyl-related operations in Tijuana’s interior neighborhoods, where processing and distribution networks operate in densely populated residential zones. In May 2025, the DEA announced its largest fentanyl bust in history, seizing over 400 kilograms linked to Sinaloa Cartel operations along the border.
Originally reported by Punto Norte.