The Wrong People Just Got Their Hands on an Elite Drone Unit

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico—One of Mexico’s most violent cartels has just created its own elite unit of drone operators, a highly trained group of sicarios dedicated to tweaking commercial drones and turning them into flying bombs to use against rival cartels and Mexican authorities, according to U.S.-based security analysts, Mexican officials, and cartel members who spoke with The Daily Beast.

The ruthless Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG for its Spanish acronym) began weaponizing commercial drones more than four years ago, according to researchers and Mexican authorities. The creation of specialized drone units, however, indicates that the cartel is shifting its drone operations into high gear.

“We began training as a group in 2021, but only this year we started operating,” a Jalisco Cartel New Generation member of the Operadores Droneros (Drone Operators), told The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity.

The group is mostly dedicated to finding and attacking rival cartels like Los Viagras, Knights Templar in Michoacán, and the Sinaloa Cartel in Jalisco, the cartel operator said.

“It depends on which drone we use, but we can be miles away and confirm that they [rivals] are at a certain house or vehicle and then crash the drone with the explosives,” he said.

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The group has even come up with its own patch to distinguish themselves among the ranks of henchmen of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to researchers at C/O Futures. It consists of an image of a quadcopter drone and the face of a skull at the center. The patch has the CJNG letters at the bottom and the words “Operadores Droneros” at the top.

The group is allegedly composed of a dozen men and currently operates only in Michoacán and Jalisco states, according to the cartel operator.

“The Operadores Droneros is still a new and not widespread group inside the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, but that doesn’t mean it is harmless; they have enough power to focus our attention on to them,” a Mexican intelligence official inside Mexico’s army told The Daily Beast requesting to remain anonymous.

A Mexican state police operating in the state of Michoacán also confirmed to The Daily Beast the existence of the drone operators working within the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The drones used by the cartel are mostly produced in China and bought online through retail platforms like Amazon or Ebay. Once in the hands of the cartel henchmen, they manipulate them to carry a load of makeshift explosives including potassium perchlorate and aluminum, among other ingredients, according to the cartel operative.

“Then we add some shrapnel like buckshots and nails to add more damage,” he said.

Inside the Project

In a video obtained exclusively by The Daily Beast—purportedly taken from inside the Operadores Droneros unit in Michoacán—one of the alleged henchmen can be seen stuffing explosive charge inside plastic bottles. The footage shows some nails and buckshots around the working area, and a DJI commercial drone in the back of a pick-up truck.

The video was allegedly recorded a few hours before an attack against the Knights Templar in the small village of Apatzingan, Michoacán, in August this year, according to multiple sources inside the CJNG.

The drone operations unit of the Jalisco cartel was first trained by “Americans and a Colombian man” who showed them how to source, fly, and detonate a commercial drone, according to the cartel source.

“A gringo [American] showed us how to make our own explosives, since sourcing a real plastic explosive could be too attention-grabbing. And the Colombian showed us how to drive and maneuver a drone,” he said.

Explosive drones have been some of the most lethal weapons used by cartels against Mexican authorities. That was made all too clear in November 2022, when a convoy from the Mexican military was attacked with explosive drones by henchmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as they approached the small town of Tepalcatepec in Michoacán. Four were killed and six others were injured in the incident, according to news reports.

Earlier this month, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador submitted a new legislative proposal that would equip Mexican law enforcement with anti-drone technology.

Between 2021 and August this year, the Mexican army seized 23 weaponized drones, mostly in the central states of Michoacán, Guerrero, and Jalisco—all states where the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is very active—according to official figures from the Mexican army.

“The significance of the institutionalization of weaponized aerial drones by criminal armed groups... can as a result present a more profound threat to the state and its security forces,” John P. Sullivan, researcher at C/O Futures, told The Daily Beast. “Future potentials might include targeting law enforcement and customs and border patrol officials on the frontier,” Sullivan said.

Last week, China also admitted that most of the civilian drones used by criminal organizations and military were manufactured in that country and announced a series of sanctions and restrictions to exports starting this week.

But the export restrictions and the proposal of a new law in Mexico could mean nothing for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

“We understand they [Mexico and Chinese governments] have to do something, but honestly, it is not like we will stop. We are fighting a war, even if they don’t want to admit it. This is a war and we will source our weapons from wherever we can,” the cartel operative said.