TIJUANA – A joint operation between Tijuana’s Policía Municipal, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Border Crime Suppression Team, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations resulted in 34 arrests. Additionally, officers recovered 156 stolen vehicles valued at approximately 45 million pesos ($2.5 million USD). The operation was conducted over six weeks in late 2025. It targeted a cross-border theft ring that stole vehicles in San Diego County. The stolen cars were then transported across the border for resale or disassembly. This Tijuana-San Diego theft ring had operated across the border for an estimated two years.
Tijuana-San Diego Theft Ring Investigation Details
According to investigators, the ring was connected to the Hooligan Bikers motorcycle group. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego has previously linked this group to large-scale vehicle theft. The stolen vehicles were predominantly Jeep Wranglers, Toyota Tacomas, and Honda CR-Vs. Specifically, they were driven through the Otay Mesa and San Ysidro crossings using cloned license plates. From there, they were taken to chop shops in the Colonia Libertad and Sánchez Taboada neighborhoods of Tijuana, where they were stripped for parts or given fraudulent Mexican registration documents.
On the U.S. side, three suspects were arrested in Spring Valley and near the San Ysidro crossing. However, six additional suspects were identified but remain at large as of early 2026. Since then, CBP officers at San Ysidro have increased license plate scanning. These automated readers cross-reference plates against the NCIC stolen vehicle database in real time.
For San Diego residents who park vehicles near the border, law enforcement recommends several precautions. These include installing GPS tracking devices and using steering wheel locks. Furthermore, residents should report any theft immediately to San Diego Police (non-emergency 619-531-2000) and the National Insurance Crime Bureau hotline at 1-800-TEL-NICB. In fact, vehicles taken to Mexico become extremely difficult to recover once across the border.