Omar Oswaldo Torres, leader of the Los Mayos faction of the Sinaloa criminal network, was arrested in the raid.
Published March 19, 2026
Mexican authorities say 11 people were killed in the raid that led to the arrest of Sinaloa cartel faction leader Omar Oswaldo Torres.
The Mexican Navy announced in a social media post on Thursday that the raid took place in Culiacán, part of Mexico’s northern state of Sinaloa.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
He claimed that staff members at the scene of the attack were attacked and fought back, killing 11 “attackers.” Their identities have not yet been made public.
“High-powered weapons and tactical equipment were seized at the scene,” the Navy said in a statement.
The Navy added that a woman, said to be Torres’ daughter, was also involved in the operation, but was released to her family because there was no connection to criminal activity.
Torres, known as “El Patas,” is the leader of the Los Mayos faction of the Sinaloa cartel.
In recent years, Los Mayos has been at odds with another faction, Los Chapitos. Each faction is named after a different leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, both of whom have been arrested and imprisoned in the United States.
Thursday’s raids come as Latin American governments seek to deliver tangible results to US President Donald Trump in the fight against crime and drug trafficking.
Just this week, the Mexican government participated in a law enforcement operation with Ecuador and Colombia to arrest Angel Esteban Aguilar, the leader of the Los Lobos criminal group.
Another Mexican military operation in Jalisco state last month killed Nemesio Oseguera, also known as “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel.
Criminal organizations responded with explosive violence, setting up barricades and attacking security force outposts across Mexico.
Critics have questioned the effectiveness of the more militarized methods President Trump has been pressuring Latin American leaders to use against cartel leaders.
Arresting or killing cartel leaders is sometimes referred to as a “decapitation strategy,” and this technique aims to weaken the structure of a criminal network.
But experts warn that the “decapitation strategy” risks escalating violence in the long term, as new conflicts erupt to fill the leadership vacuum.
Many also point out that such a militarized approach fails to address the root causes of crime, such as corruption and poverty.
Still, President Trump labeled groups like the Sinaloa Cartel “foreign terrorist organizations” and said he would consider taking military action against such groups inside Mexico, despite the threat of violating Mexico’s sovereignty.
President Trump said at a Latin American summit earlier this month that he considered Mexico to be the “epicenter” of cartel violence.
President Trump said of cartels: “We have to eradicate them.” “We have to smash them hard because they’re getting worse. They’re taking over the country. Cartels are running Mexico. We can’t do that.”
Meanwhile, Mexican officials have called on the United States to stem the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico, to little effect.
Last year, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by the Mexican government accusing American gun manufacturers of negligence, saying their products provided weapons to criminal networks in Latin America.
