Joint Federal Operation Arrests 5 Chapitos Members on Escuinapa–Teacapán Highway, Seizes Arsenal

A joint federal operation involving the Secretaría de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana (SSPC), SEDENA, FGR, and the National Guard intercepted a vehicle on the Escuinapa–Teacapán highway in southern Sinaloa on April 16, 2026, detaining five alleged members of the Los Chapitos faction. The operation included aerial surveillance support. Seized assets included 7 long-barrel firearms, 1 pistol, ammunition magazines, cartridges, 6 ballistic vests, and 1 vehicle. The arrests came in the same municipality where 5 municipal police officers had been killed in the prior 16 days (March 31 ambush killing 4, April 8 home killing of 1 off-duty officer), and where 1,190 federal security personnel were deployed on April 10. The Escuinapa–Teacapán corridor is a key southern Sinaloa gateway and contested trafficking route toward Nayarit state. Combined with two Chapitos members arrested in Mazatlán on April 19, the week saw at least 7 Chapitos operatives detained by federal security forces.