Mexico’s narco tanks are evolving from impractical to tactical
The use of Mexico’s now-legendary narco tanks in face-offs between criminal groups is growing, and technological innovations have helped them evolve from being a symbolic emblem to an important tactical weapon on the battlefield.
Narco tanks are usually trucks, tractors, or pickups that have been adapted for criminal groups in clandestine workshops. Steel plates, turrets for positioning long weapons, and peripheral vision are some of the features that are added, among others.
The Zetas, a group born out of deserters from the Mexican armed forces in the service of the Gulf Cartel, were the first to use this type of vehicle in the early 2010s.
Today, they’ve been embraced by a number of different criminal groups for use in their armed confrontations. In Sonora, residents have reported seeing these vehicles more, specifically following recent violence between criminal cells associated with the Sinaloa Cartel. In September, authorities seized several narco tanks and raided clandestine workshops where they were assembled in the towns of Pitiquito and San Luis Río Colorado. In addition, the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG), the Gulf Cartel, and the Northwest Cartel also use these vehicles, either to confront the authorities or their criminal rivals.
Mexico’s National Defense Secretariat (Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional – Sedena) seized 277 vehicles mounted with homemade armor between January 2018 and June 2024, according to data requested by InSight Crime. The states leading the way in these types of seizures are Tamaulipas (153), Michoacán (33), Jalisco (25), and Sonora (21).
InSight Crime spoke to Alexei Chévez Silveti, a security analyst and consultant in Mexico who has been training police forces and the private sector for 15 years, about the evolving use of narco tanks by Mexican crime groups.
InSight Crime (IC): At what point did the use of narco tanks begin to emerge in Mexico?
Alexei Chévez (AC): The Zetas were the first to use these sorts of vehicles with a military-oriented mentality, albeit directed at criminal activities. They had local workshops that they hired to modify pickup trucks and then would put drugs in them and drive them to the United States. These workshops were used to make modifications to these vans so that they could be armored to protect the occupants.
It starts in a very homemade way using steel plates and evolves according to the fantasies and needs of criminal organizations.
IC: How have these vehicles evolved in the context of confrontations between criminal groups in Mexico?
AC: These armored vehicles, especially those owned by the CJNG, have always been famous for using innovative techniques and tactics. They are getting bigger, but above all, we are starting to see a very important leap in technology. The latest vehicles to have been secured have signal inhibitor systems for drones, tools for perforating tires, and can transport eight to 10 people inside. They have turrets where you can put a rifle platform and closed-circuit television cameras that allow those inside the tank 360-degree vision.
This is the new generation. Sedena has detected the use of new, much lighter steel, another recent evolution.
The great advantage they also have is that they are stolen vehicles that are being converted into lightweight monster vehicles. They carry light armor and are much more mobile, and much more operational. What is happening is of great significance and it has to do with the deterioration of security in many states of Mexico. If we look at the hundreds of vehicles that have been stolen in Sinaloa this month, specifically in Culiacán, we realize that they don’t even need to buy them. They steal them, modify them, and then dispose of them.
What we are going to see in the future is going to be more of these types of light, stolen vehicles converted into monster units that don’t cost organized crime much anymore.
IC: What message does the use of these vehicles send in the context of armed confrontation?
Initially, these vehicles were conceived for military purposes. But because of the thickness of the steel plates, they became very heavy. This made it difficult for the engines, transmission box, and suspension to support, especially due to the type of terrain where they were moving around. So they started to be inefficient.
Other criminal organizations started to see them more as a manifestation of power. Criminal groups wanted to demonstrate their success to their competitors and that is where the problems started because it became more about how impressive the tanks looked than how useful they were. They became a status symbol for criminal organizations. This type of armor resisted police attacks, but not the firepower of the Mexican army. And normally it is the armed forces that are fighting criminal organizations. So, it wasn’t giving a strategic or tactical advantage against the authorities, but rather a message against rivals.
IC: How are groups getting hold of the materials to adapt these vehicles?
AC: It is very difficult to obtain material to armor trucks, and costs around 2 million Mexican pesos, equivalent to about $100,000. Why is it so expensive? Because the ballistic steel plates used for armoring are highly regulated by Sedena.
The windshield glass, which is the most delicate part, is difficult to get legally, which is why we are seeing the visibility capacities of these vehicles becoming more reduced.
The steel found inside these new vehicles is military-grade and complies with standards for the arming of North American military vehicles. It is being illegally imported from the United States to adapt this new generation of more efficient, lighter vehicles.
The manufacture of materials for armor in Mexico is highly regulated, and there is an association of armorers that are easily identifiable. Even so, there are other companies legally constituted in the country that do not fall within this scheme and that can import this type of steel with the excuse that it is ballistic armor for use in the home or for businesses. It is very likely that criminal groups introduce this type of steel and glass through these companies.
IC: How can the supply of these materials be stopped?
AC: The main problem we have is our proximity to the United States. If criminal groups can clandestinely import weapons, ammunition, and special equipment for their hired killers, it is much easier to import steel or glass because it is not normally something we see as dangerous.
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