Bullets From Hijacked US-Bound Trucks Recovered In Mexico

Mexican authorities said they have recovered most of a shipment of bullets stolen from two U.S.-bound tractor-trailers in central Mexico June 9.

About 5 million bullets were found in the Mexican municipality of San Luis de La Paz in the state of Guanajuato, about 19 miles from where the bullets were stolen, Mexico's National Guard (GN) reported Friday.

GN agents tweeted they "located a dry box-type trailer about to collapse loaded with various boxes of useful cartridges. According to preliminary information, this shipment is linked to the two trailers loaded with stolen weapons from [Guanajuato]."

More than 7 million rounds of small-caliber ammunition bound for the U.S. were reported stolen from two northbound trucks headed to Texas by armed assailants on a highway near the town of La Cabaña del Rey. 

Both the drivers and the escort units guarding the shipment reportedly were threatened at gunpoint. The thieves removed the trailers from the tractors and towed them away in other units, according to authorities. The truck drivers and security personnel were unharmed.

The shipment was mostly .22 caliber and .38 caliber bullets, often used in rifles for target practice or small game hunting, according to authorities.

The ammunition is made in the Aguilas Ammunition factory in Cuernavaca, 57 miles south of Mexico City. Aguila Ammunition has been exporting to the U.S. since the 1960s.

Guanajuato state recorded 12 cargo thefts in April and 71 through the first four months of 2021, according to the latest data from Mexico's National Public Security System (SESNSP), an agency that monitors crime. Guanajuato recorded 1,623 cargo thefts during 2020.

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