SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — More than a thousand firearms were destroyed Thursday in Tijuana by the Mexican Army, which said most of the weapons came from the United States.
In total, 1,347 guns were put out of commission, including 388 long weapons, 959 hand guns, as well as 23,000 cartridges.
Most were confiscated by state and local police agencies in the region.
Leopoldo Tizoc Aguilar Durán, head of Tijuana’s Public Safety Office, said there are still 3,000 “weapons of war” in warehouses that have yet to be destroyed.
“And there’s more when you consider confiscated guns by other agencies, weapons that are evidence as part of wider investigations in the state,” he said.
He told reporters on Thursday most of the weapons entered Mexico from the U.S. although some did come from the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
“Most of these weapons don’t come through ports of entry, they are carried in through our porous border,” Aguilar Durán he said.
Tijuana’s head of public safety added that officers now have to be equipped with similar high-powered weapons while on patrol.
“The days when officers carried handguns to provide public safety are long gone, now they have to carry guns that hold 15 to 17 rounds or weapons such as AR-15s with cartridges that hold 30 to 40 bullets.”
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