Two measurement factors at customs on the northern border of the country serve as a thermometer to gauge their risk to national security. Since the military was appointed as administrators as of 2021, seized weapons and drugs are the measure of the work of retired Army officers, whose ranks range from lieutenant colonel, colonel, and brigadier general.
Military documents obtained by the Guacamaya collective show that of the 19 customs posts, in the same number of border crossings with the United States, two are considered “red flags”. The analysis of the record of incidents, as they call drug seizures, weapons and undeclared money, shows a lower incidence in Ciudad Juárez and Ojinaga, two places considered very important due to the presence of criminal organizations that maintain territorial disputes in the area.
The Ciudad Juárez customs office is considered number eight in collection nationwide, its geostrategic location makes it one of the most important in the national territory, just below Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana. Hence, the registration of confiscations is relevant. The document draws attention that from January 2021 to March 2022 incidents and currency detections decreased during the management of a colonel, whose name is withheld, who last spring was removed and sent to customs at the Felipe Ángeles airport. The document emphasizes that his replacement, a brigadier general who was in charge of Reynosa customs until that date, where “he did not perform optimally,” makes Ciudad Juárez customs “an even more relevant red light due to the situation critical” in which the region finds itself.
The Ojinaga customs case is seen as a “red flag” due to events where the integrity of personnel and facilities were violated. It is part of one of the most isolated drug trafficking routes to the United States, the document states that the arrival of the new administrator, a lieutenant colonel, opened the possibility of implementing strategies to stop the trafficking of illicit merchandise, increase inspection and surveillance and reinforce the security of customs facilities.
Earlier this month, the National Customs Agency announced that with the arrival of sailors and soldiers at the country’s customs, tax collection increased from January to November 2022 with 991 thousand 342 million pesos, which represented a nominal increase of 9.2 percent compared to the same period in 2021.
However, the behavior of securing undeclared currency, weapons and drugs was uneven at the different border posts. For example in Nogales, which belongs to an important synthetic drug smuggling route on federal highway no. 2 “La Rumorosa”, which connects Baja California with the rest of the country, until last April the seizure of weapons and other “incidents” were minor in relation to their strategic importance.
Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana, first and second in importance in collection at the border, had inconsistent data. Both were “perfectible”, since they are essential for the operation of organized crime.
In the case of Reynosa, there was a decrease in “incidents” from 2021 to 2022, going from seven to three cases per month, which caught the attention of military analysts. The general who was in charge of the post was sent to Ciudad Juárez in March of last year, despite the fact that his performance was not optimal. In 2021, a month following the brigadier’s appointment in Reynosa, there were two seizures of 10,000 cartridges, however the possibility that the seizures were the result of the work of the previous administration was considered. Regarding irregular currencies, “it is observed that in the four months prior to the arrival of the general, customs registered two currency events, which totaled 444 thousand dollars, this data is important because during his tenure, which lasted eight months , no detections were recorded in this category.
The case of the San Luis Río Colorado customs office, on the Sonora-Arizona border, drew attention because during the entire period analyzed it did not record drug and weapons seizures. “Due to the poor behavior of detections and seizures, customs becomes a critical focus for its supervision, due to its location close to federal highway No. 2 (La Rumorosa), an important commercial route, it maintains connectivity with the Baja California customs; due to the proximity of the cities of Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado that are connected by a bridge, which complicates the actions of the authorities because they are in different states; for its seizures in previous years, since once the Sedena detections detected at its checkpoint on the federal highway no. 2 were transferred to customs for insurance. Thus, actions must be taken to improve the performance of customs”, the document reads.
The report draws attention to the Sonoyta customs, which during 2021 ranked 49th in collection, and which had less than a thousand import and export operations in that period. Its specific geostrategic importance of the San Emeterio checkpoint, located on federal highway no. 2 obligatory step to connect the peninsula with the rest of the national territory, it is because it has had large volumes in previous years of securing arms and currency. A financial lead secured at this location connected to one of the clans that control the Sinaloa cartel. “Therefore, the Sonoyta customs office becomes a critical customs office for its supervision.”
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