World

Mexico: The booming trade fuelling a US drug epidemic and a deadly street war

Published

2 years ago

May 4, 2023

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We barely slow for red lights as cars pull out of our way.

We virtually take off as we scream over a hilly stretch of road.

We’re on board a Red Cross ambulance answering an emergency call in the northern Mexican city of Tijuana. It’s one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

A two-person team, talking into the walkie-talkie, asks for details of the emergency.

“It’s a shooting,” paramedic Zulma Cruz tells me. “We get as many as a dozen a day sometimes,” she says as we see blue lights flashing in the distance and pass a National Guard vehicle with a soldier holding a machine gun, silhouetted against the night sky.

As we approach, what is now a crime scene as well as a medical emergency, I can see that the streets of one of the most cartel-infested neighbourhoods in this city are awash with police and military.

A second ambulance is surrounded by locals, watching on, and I can see ambulance teams inside treating a man who appears to be conscious.

“He is stable but critical,” Zulma tells me as she grabs an oxygen canister and her trauma pack and heads off to assist her colleagues.

Zulma is an experienced paramedic, who is used to the menacing presence of security forces and the stares of the local community, many of whom identify with or are part of the cartel.

This is another gangland assassination attempt – the patient has been shot in the head.

Three cartels are fighting for control over Tijuana – the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation, and the Tijuana Cartel.

There are over 2,000 murders a year here – that’s over six murders a day. To put that into perspective, in London last year just over 100 people were murdered.

It’s that crazy, and the Red Cross teams are the only ones capable of saving lives out here on the streets.

Zulma tells me that sometimes while she has been trying to save the lives of other victims of a hit, the cartel gunmen have approached her and told her to stop treatment.

Her Red Cross colleague, who didn’t want to be named, said the gunmen couldn’t be persuaded.

“That man dies here,” the gang member said, “then he shot him again,” her partner told me.

“We just had to walk away.”

I ask Zulma if she thinks a lot of this violence and chaos on the streets is linked to the growing fentanyl business.

“It definitely is, it definitely is,” she replies without hesitation.

“I think that it is linked to all that, the drugs, the cartels and fights for selling on the street, and sometimes they cross into each other’s turf…”

Another call for the Red Cross, this time for a fentanyl overdose.

Their medics carry the antidote to fentanyl poisoning – one of the most toxic drugs in the world.

Read more: Inside a secret fentanyl lab

It’s called Narcan, and it can save the lives of those who are almost dead.

They arrive on scene as the fire brigade administer first aid. Paramedic Alan Leon jumps out and gets ready to give the victim Narcan.

He briefly talks to the family gathered around the victim, unconscious on a pavement in a quiet residential area.

The man is completely unresponsive. His name is Juan, and he is dying.

Alan instructs a policeman holding a drip to raise it higher.

He then administers the Narcan directly into a cannula, and into the victim’s vein, while explaining to his emergency service colleagues what he’s doing.

They all wait. Time is critical and they’re hoping they’ve caught this victim in time.

Alan gently presses into Juan’s chest with his fist and tells everyone to wait.

He feels Juan’s chest again and then there is a sudden movement – the Narcan is working.

Moments later Juan sits up, utterly surprised, and grabs at the medical paraphernalia all around him.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he says. It really is quite remarkable.

Alan tells him to wait a minute, and then gives him another shot of Narcan.

“It’s reversing the fentanyl,” he tells Juan.

After a few minutes, Juan stands up and leans against a vehicle parked nearby – he is talking, he’s shocked he’s alive.

His wife and young son, who had watched the whole scene unfold, hug him as he fist bumps our producer.

Fentanyl use, fentanyl trafficking, gang wars, death and murder – the ambulance crews see it all every day, and it’s all linked.

Tijuana’s red-light district is the most public location for the cartel wars and the use and sale of fentanyl on the streets.

It’s also a popular tourist hang out.

The gangs make a fortune from the drugs and sex industry here 24 hours a day, which is why they fight so hard to hold or take territory.

The area is constantly patrolled by police, the National Guard, and the Mexican army, who were deployed here last year to try to reduce homicides, and to fight organised crime.

We joined the Baja California State Police on one of their patrols through the district.

They told us the cartels don’t care what fentanyl does to people, they are interested in one thing only – money.

“They know what they’re doing, they know what they’re producing, they know the problems they cause selling the drugs, they know that people are becoming more addicted in this country, they know it’s a problem, but they don’t care, they only worry about their own interests,” an officer, who didn’t want to be named, told me.

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The cartels know Mexico’s security services have a huge presence in the city, but they taunt them anyway, by posting videos on social media platforms like TikTok, showing off their guns, drugs, and money.

“Many times it’s to send a message to the other organisations, sometimes it’s to send a message to the police officers that we can’t touch them, but we are fighting back against all these organisations… we try to stop them in all the conflict zones and arrest them,” the officer explained.

This district in Tijuana is ground zero for the fentanyl trade in Mexico, and the city is the gateway for drug and people smuggling over the border.

This trade is fuelling an illegal drug epidemic in the United States, and a street war inside Mexico.

World

‘At least 16’ killed in latest Israeli attacks on Gaza – as 10 children arrive in UK for NHS treatment

Published

13 hours ago

September 17, 2025

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'At least 16' killed in latest Israeli attacks on Gaza - as 10 children arrive in UK for NHS treatment

At least 16 people are said to have died overnight in Israeli attacks in Gaza – as the first group of 10 children arrived in the UK for urgent NHS treatment.

Officials said more than half of those killed in the latest attacks were in Gaza City, where Israel this week began a major ground offensive.

A mother and her child died at an apartment in the city’s Shati refugee camp, according to the Shifa hospital.

The al-Adwa and Nasser hospitals said other victims included a pregnant woman – among three killed when a house was hit in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza – and two parents and their child in the Muwasi area west of Khan Younis.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched its ground assault on Tuesday, in what it called a “new phase” in its bid to destroy Hamas and force the release of the remaining hostages.

It said it was looking into the deaths caused by the latest strikes.

Troops and tanks continued to push deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday despite widespread condemnation of the attempt to take full control of the city.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has called the operation “utterly reckless and appalling”.

Ms Cooper – who last night helped greet the pro-Israel President Trump – said it would “only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages”.

Meanwhile, 10 critically ill and injured children from Gaza have arrived in Britain for medical care alongside 50 companions, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

It said they were first evacuated to Jordan and that “robust” security checks were undertaken before the group got approval to travel.

The foreign secretary said the children were “unable to get the medical care they need to survive” in Gaza.

More are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, in what Health Secretary Wes Streeting said “reflects the very best of our NHS values – compassion, care and expertise when it matters most”.

A small number of children were previously brought to the UK and are being treated privately through the Project Pure Hope initiative.

It comes as a coalition of aid groups today urged the international community to do more to stop Israel’s attacks, which it said had caused “an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.

“States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action,” said a statement signed by the heads of more than 20 organisations working in Gaza.

The call comes a day after a UN commission said Israel was committing genocide in Gaza – a claim the country vehemently denies as “distorted and false”.

Sky News analysis shows thousands of families remain in crowded tent camps in Gaza City, with the UN estimating last week that a million people remain there. Israel, however, believes 40% of the population has already fled south.

Many are taking what little they can and attempting the perilous journey south after Israel warned them to evacuate ahead of it new offensive.

The IDF said another route south for those fleeing would open from noon local time on Wednesday, running along Salah al-Din street along Gaza’s coastline, for two days.

Israel has not said how long its Gaza City operation will last, but that it will involve both air and ground forces and the number of soldiers will increase over the coming days.

It insists it takes strenuous efforts to issue warnings and avoid civilian casualties, but that it’s complicated by Hamas deliberately embedding itself in civilian areas.

Health officials in Gaza say nearly 65,000 people have died in the two years of the war – a figure that does not specify the number of Hamas members killed.

The terror attack on Israel in October 2023 killed around 1,200 and saw 251 taken hostage. Forty-eight remain in Gaza, but fewer then half are though to still be alive.

World

Pressure mounts on PM to raise Israel’s Gaza offensive with Trump

Published

20 hours ago

September 17, 2025

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Pressure mounts on PM to raise Israel's Gaza offensive with Trump

Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to raise Israel’s bombardment of Gaza with Donald Trump during his UK state visit, after a UN Commission said a genocide was taking place.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey used the president’s arrival on Tuesday night to call for action on the escalating situation, as Israeli forces advance in Gaza City.

Sky News analysis has found thousands of families remain in the city’s crowded tent camps, despite a ground offensive beginning yesterday.

Sir Ed, who is boycotting the state dinner being held for Mr Trump, said Sir Keir must “press” the president now.

He said: “What is happening in Gaza is a genocide. And the president of the United States, who wants a Nobel Peace Prize, is doing nothing to stop it.”

On Tuesday, a United Nations Commission agreed Israel was committing genocide in Gaza – the first time such an explosive allegation has been made publicly by a UN body.

Israel‘s foreign ministry said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the commission to be abolished.

‘We cannot be bystanders’

Reports suggest the situation will be a talking point between Sir Keir and Mr Trump during his visit.

It comes before the UK is due to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month, along with allies including Canada and France.

In a late night statement, Canada’s foreign ministry described the Gaza City offensive as “horrific”.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed added: “We have long said that Hamas is genocidal and condemned them for their actions.

“Now, I think we have to say that what the Netanyahu government is doing amounts to genocide.”

Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, a former shadow minister, also called on her party leader to make discussing the situation in Gaza with Mr Trump a “top priority”.

Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, she said: “We say ‘never again’ when we look at Bosnia and Rwanda, but here we are again, and it’s been livestreamed, and we’ve all seen it.

“We cannot be bystanders to a genocide.”

UN report pulls no punches

The accusation of genocide is made by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

It alleges Israel has been “killing Palestinians or forcing them to live in inhumane conditions that led to death; causing serious bodily or mental harm, including through torture, displacement and sexual crime; deliberately imposing inhumane conditions, and fourthly, imposing measures intending to prevent births”.

Read more from Sky News:
Zelenskyy makes demand of Trump
Trump sues New York Times

Earlier this month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars also passed a resolution stating that Israel’s conduct passed the threshold of committing genocide.

However, a report from the British government said it had “not concluded” that Israel intended to “destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.

Nearly 65,000 people are now believed to have died, according to figures collated by Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

World

Thousands of families remain in Gaza City as Israeli army advances

Published

1 day ago

September 16, 2025

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Thousands of families remain in Gaza City as Israeli army advances

As the Israeli army advances on Gaza City, thousands of families remain in the city’s crowded tent camps.

Sky News analysis of satellite imagery taken on Monday 15 September shows tent camps stretching across the western half of the city.

A close-up view shows one camp spilling out on to the city’s beaches.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched its ground assault overnight on Tuesday 16 September, in what the military said was a “new phase” in its offensive.

“Gaza is burning,” defence minister Israel Katz posted on X as the operation began. “IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the offensive as “utterly reckless and appalling”, adding that it “will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages”.

Footage verified by Sky News shows Israeli tanks entering the Gaza Strip from the north overnight on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers later filmed themselves in an area just north of Gaza City.

Satellite imagery taken a day earlier shows that while some tent camps in the area have been abandoned in the past few days, many others have not.

The IDF advance comes after an intense week of airstrikes targeting buildings in Gaza City. Sky News has verified dozens of videos showing strikes on buildings across the city.

Several of these strikes destroyed entire tower blocks, such as this strike on Al Ghafari Tower.

At least 50 people were killed across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, most of them in Gaza City.

The IDF said it estimated 40% of people in Gaza City had fled south, while Hamas said that only 190,000 out of 1.3 million residents had left (15%).

An evacuation order for the entire city was first issued on 9 September, with a map on 13 September instructing Palestinians to flee to what Israel has designated a “humanitarian area” along a stretch of sandy coastline known as Al Mawasi.

Satellite imagery from Sunday 14 September shows that the area is already crowded with tents.

Last week, the UN’s Gaza humanitarian country team said that “neither the size nor scale of services provided is fit to support those already there, let alone new arrivals”.

Those fleeing south face a journey of at least 15km (9.3 miles), much of it through Israeli-designated combat zones. Local health officials said at least one vehicle travelling south from Gaza City had been hit by an Israeli strike.

Among those staying put on Tuesday was Um Mohammad, who lives in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City.

“It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving,” she said.

The IDF says the next stage of the operation will involve both air and ground forces, and that the number of soldiers involved will increase over the coming days.

Additional reporting by Sam Doak, OSINT producer.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.