Criminal Cell With Over 160 Members Cracked in Western Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Mexican law enforcement agents have cracked a 164-member criminal cell in the Mexican state of Michoacan west of Mexico City and seized some 200 firearms and dozens of vehicles, the Mexican Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection said on Sunday.

"During the operation led by the secretary of civilian protection, Gen. Jose Alfredo Ortega Reyes, together with the commanders of the 21st and 43rd military zones, 164 people were detained, 142 assault rifles, 44 handguns, and 28 vehicles, including one armored vehicle, were seized," Michoacan's secretariat of security and civilian protection said on the blog.

The law enforcement did not disclose the details of the operation, nor the cell's name or affiliation. The secretariat noted that the operation was carried out together with the National Guard, the Civil Guard, and the Secretariat of National Defense.

Violent clashes broke out in the city of Uruapan in northern Michoacan on Wednesday with cars, buses, and small stores being set on fire after Mexican law enforcement carried out an operation against a local cartel. Clashes spread to the state of Guanajuato on Thursday, and then to the cities of Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada, and Tecate in the state of Baja California on Friday. According to the Mexican secretariat of national defense, there were no cartel leaders among those detained this week, as two bosses whose meeting was swept by the special forces managed to escape.