Tijuana municipal police arrested two people Thursday afternoon after finding a handgun, 31 packets of methamphetamine, and three tactical communication radios inside a California-plated vehicle in the Colonia Herradura neighborhood.
Officers stopped a Toyota Camry with California license plates on Calle Pelícanos around midday. A .380-caliber pistol was visible near the gear shift, prompting a full search of the vehicle. In the back seat, police found the methamphetamine packets and the radios.
Two Suspects Turned Over to Prosecutors
The suspects were identified by first and middle names only: Manuel Alexander, a 24-year-old Salvadoran national, and Mayra Patricia, a 34-year-old Tijuana resident. Both were detained at the scene without incident.
Authorities split the case between two agencies. The FGR (Fiscalía General de la República, Mexico’s federal attorney general’s office) took over the firearms charge, since illegal weapons possession falls under federal jurisdiction in Mexico. The FGE (Fiscalía General del Estado, Baja California’s state prosecutor’s office) is handling the narcotics investigation.
Radios Point to Organized Activity
The discovery of three communication radios alongside the drugs and weapon is a detail law enforcement in Tijuana has flagged in past operations. Tactical radios are commonly used by organized crime groups to coordinate lookouts and movements across neighborhoods. Their presence in a vehicle already carrying meth and a firearm points to activity beyond casual street dealing.
The California plates on the Camry add a cross-border element to the case. Vehicles registered in the United States are frequently used in Tijuana’s drug trade, sometimes to move contraband or simply to blend into the city’s heavy cross-border traffic. It is not yet clear whether the vehicle was stolen or legally registered to one of the occupants.
Tijuana’s Ongoing Security Challenges
Tijuana remains one of the most violent cities in Mexico, with roughly 2,000 homicides recorded annually in recent years. The city’s drug market is contested primarily by factions of the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, with violence often spilling into residential neighborhoods like Colonia Herradura.
This story was first reported by Punto Norte on May 8, 2026.