The Roads of Tecate Are In The Hands of Crime

“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat 

The Sinaloa Cartel, embroiled in an internal war between the Mayo and Chapo factions after one of the latter handed over Ismael Zambada García, "El Mayo," to U.S. authorities, has expanded its criminal activities in Tecate beyond the production, trafficking, distribution, and sale of drugs.  To acquire illicit funds, they have diversified into other crimes such as fuel theft, extortion of businesses, telephone scams, property theft, and now, highway robberies.

Using caltrops, they disable vehicles and transport trucks before robbing them.  Investigators report that one of the most problematic stretches is the area connecting Tecate and Mexicali, particularly near the Luis Echeverría "El Hongo" and Rumorosa areas.  Another high-risk zone is the southern part of the municipality along the Tecate-Ensenada highway, where there are numerous areas without cell phone coverage. Criminals are aware of these communication dead zones and exploit them to target and rob travelers.

“We went to Valle de Guadalupe for a weekend; on the way back, before reaching the toll booth at El Hongo, we had to stop because one of the tires blew out. Seconds after getting out of the car, we were approached by armed men in a black Tahoe SUV. They intimidated us, took our belongings, and then left. It was minutes of terror; and although we were later assisted by authorities to whom we recounted what happened, we decided not to file a formal complaint because the assailants took pictures of our vehicle, license plates, and even my driver's license, which terrifies us every day because they practically know where we live,” said Claudia, a victim of the robbery in September.

Two weeks after the robbery against Claudia's family, in August 2025, the president of Coparmex Ensenada, Alberto Muñoz Avilez, publicly denounced that a group of tourists had been robbed on the same stretch of road and demanded greater security from the authorities for those who are an important part of the state's economic sector: “We want to demand that all three levels of government uphold the law; we are aware of the situation that has recently been occurring on the stretch of road from Ensenada to Tecate and vice versa, where not only business owners, but also citizens have been subjected to robberies or attempts to dispossess them of their property. We need the authorities to take action with proper coordination,” he declared.

The businessman said that despite knowing of testimonies from people who have been victims of this crime, the authorities continue to ignore the issue and rely on their "statistics."

“As citizens, we are not feeling the protection of the authorities, so it is time to demand action and for us as citizens to dare to file a complaint when these types of situations occur, and for it not to be an excuse for the authorities to say that there are no complaints and therefore they don’t intervene,” he said. 

The businessman said they are aware of a close acquaintance who was the target of an attempted armed robbery on the Tecate to Valle de Guadalupe highway, near the Agrícola y Ganadera de Valles de Las Palmas neighborhood, and recounted that the victim was intercepted by a vehicle that blocked their path.

“A person was leaning halfway out of the car, pointing a gun and shouting for them to get out. However, the victim was able to make a U-turn and escape in the opposite direction. That's how they managed to get away, but they were pursued for several kilometers while they called 911.  Eventually, they reached a municipal police unit that provided assistance,” he explained.

The businessman lamented that no arrests were made in that case, and suggested there might be other cases where citizens don't dare to report the crimes.

“How is it possible that there were no arrests? How far could the vehicle have gone? What are the escape routes in that area? These robberies are happening on that stretch of highway due to the lack of police presence, and perhaps because there are roads they can use to escape,” he remarked.

But carjackings aren't the only incidents reported on the Tecate–Ensenada highway; from kilometer 16 onward, the area is desolate, a fact that in past years has been exploited by members of organized crime to execute, disappear, or abandon bodies, 90 percent of which showed gunshot wounds, in addition to evidence of having been tortured prior to their murder.

In that same stretch between the Nueva Hindú and Valle de las Palmas areas, drug laboratories have been seized, where people recruited in Ensenada were forced to work. They had been offered attractive wages to work in the fields harvesting vegetables and were then transported to an area located in the mountains that separate these rural areas of Tecate.

In July, a woman identified as Silvia publicly reported that while driving on the Tecate–Ensenada highway near the area known as "El Polvorín," between Valle de las Palmas and Rancho Viejo, armed men tried to force her to stop her vehicle: "It happened in broad daylight, around 1:30 p.m. It was a recent model blue Toyota with California license plates and a yellow car, which suddenly cut in front of us, while a dark gray Nissan (Altima or Maxima) that I don't know where it came from (it was moving slowly) wouldn't let me move. The passenger started sticking his hand out and showed a gun and started pointing it at us, making gestures for me to pull over," she recounted.

"They followed me for many kilometers. We started dialing 911 (the emergency number), but in that stretch of the highway there's no signal. It's clear they have identified the places where you won't be able to call for help," she warned. They managed to make the emergency calls and contact municipal police who assisted them, although no arrests were made. “It’s something we haven’t fully processed at home yet, and obviously it’s going to affect us because of the fear and because I have to change the license plates on the car, even the car itself. ‘What am I going to do?’ ‘What’s going to happen?’ It’s no longer criminals against criminals, but criminals against society,” he warned.

General Laureano Carrillo Rodríguez, head of the Baja California Secretariat of Citizen Security, acknowledged that there are criminal groups in the area, but that they have not been able to apprehend them. The same thing happens, he said, on the stretch between El Hongo and La Rumorosa, where there is a response time of up to “40 minutes” to activate the municipal police, and for the National Guard (GN) to subsequently arrive to provide support:

“Unfortunately, we were unable to apprehend the attackers. We know that they operate in that area, and we currently have a significant deployment that we had in La Rumorosa. What we are going to do is move further in that direction; we will be focusing more specifically on the Valle de las Palmas area and especially on that highway where the incident occurred,” he indicated.

RECORD OF TIRE PUNCTURES SINCE 2024

On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, shortly after the El Hongo toll booth towards Tecate, a user traveling on the road reported that she and her family were almost robbed.

She explained that on a stretch of the highway, some men obstructed their visibility with flashlights, causing the driver of the vehicle they were in to swerve and hit tire spikes, puncturing a tire; however, they managed to escape.

The user recounted that she saw at least seven cars with punctured tires, whose occupants were being robbed of their belongings by several hooded and armed men. This occurred without any law enforcement presence in the area to assist them. In response, the Secretary General of the State Government, Alfredo Álvarez Cárdenas, indicated that the National Guard, along with elements of the State Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSCBC), were already patrolling the area, both on the toll road and the highway, and that the incidents were being investigated by the State Attorney General's Office (FGE).

Likewise, the then Secretary of Security in the State, General Leopoldo Tizoc, acknowledged that they were aware of seven incidents in which the alleged criminals had used caltrops to rob drivers.

Caltrops collected by citizens in the Cienega Redonda area on the Tecate–Mexicali road.

Criminal activity using this modus operandi isn’t new, as the presence of tire-puncturing devices and incidents of assault on the Tecate-Tijuana highway were already reported in April 2024.

“We’re not the only ones to suffer an attempted robbery, but we experienced it firsthand, and it's a terrible fear. It's also outrageous to see that this is happening on the Fiarum toll road and that government authorities are doing nothing,” complained users who were victims of the assaults.

The National Chamber of Freight Transport (CANACAR) in Baja California has also reported attempted armed robberies or attacks using caltrops against its vehicles, an activity that hadn’t previously occurred in this state:

“Since 2024, we have issued recommendations to our operators to avoid resting or stopping in desolate stretches between Rumorosa and Tecate; we have records of attempted robberies, and we certainly fear that if there is no prompt response and a tangible solution, this will escalate, and tomorrow this border city, considered one of the safest, will end up becoming like those in the south, where people are robbed for their merchandise, their vehicles, or even where drivers are murdered,” warned CANACAR.

Source: Zeta Tijuana