HomeNewsBriefDrug Gang Shootout Kills 28 in West Mexico
BRIEF

Drug Gang Shootout Kills 28 in West Mexico

MEXICO / 26 MAY 2011 BY JEN SOKATCH EN

A shootout between rival drug trafficking gangs left at least 28 people dead on a highway near the town of Ruiz in Nayarit, west Mexico.

Residents said the shootout began around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday when suspected members of the Zetas encountered members of a rival cartel, according to a report by Milenio.

Later reports moved the death toll up to 30.

The Mexican Navy took control of the area, while stores closed, leaving the town deserted.

The authorities discovered at least ten abandoned vehicles and various weapons, as well as four wounded people. From footage of the scene, many seem to have been dressed in full combat gear. (See XHKG's video report below).

Drug violence has shot up in the last year in the Pacific state of Nayarit, which is a center for heroin production. Control of the region has been in flux since the July 2010 death of Sinaloa Cartel head Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villarreal.

Some media reports linked the shootout to the death of a local drug boss called Rogelio Magallanes, alias "El Chino," whose dismembered body was found a week previously.

Meanwhile, Mexican authorities attributed the killings to a dispute between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Zetas, and said that the Beltran Leyva Organization could also be involved.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 8 NOV 2021

Cocaine, synthetic drugs, weapons, migrants, gasoline - this range of criminal economies has seen violence escalate in Mexico's northern state…

FEATURED / 16 MAR 2023

The Northeast Cartel has established almost complete dominance of criminal economies in Mexico's border city of Nuevo Laredo.

BRAZIL / 2 NOV 2021

Organized crime groups in Latin America continue to expand into illicit synthetic drug production, including mass manufacturing of methamphetamine and…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…