Hundreds of weapons destroyed after seizing gang members in prisons in Honduras

Authorities honduran destroyed on Monday hundreds of weapons, including rifles, pistols and revolvers, seized in the last fifteen days from gang members in five of the country’s main prisons.

At the headquarters of the Public Order Military Police (PMOP), south of Tegucigalpa, military personnel destroyed the weapons in a cutting machine. They also detonated 24 grenades and other explosives in holes in the ground.

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The PMOP gave a list of what was confiscated, about 40 AR-15, AK-47 and Uzi rifles, among others, 222 pistols and revolvers, some 240 chargers, 23,860 projectiles of different calibers, communication systems, televisions, sound equipment, games video clips and cash, among hundreds of other prohibited items.

Defense Minister José Manuel Zelaya analyzes the arsenal seized from the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs, in the town of Las Pozas in Tegucigalpa on July 10, 2023. (Photo by Orlando SIERRA / AFP) (ORLANDO SIERRA /)

The Commander of the PMOP, Colonel Ramiro Fernando Munozsaid it is “a beginning of the whole process” to pacify the prisons, which will last all year.

“The mission of the PMOP, following the orders of the president [Xiomara] Castro, is to dismantle these schools of crime”, said during the ceremony the Minister of Defense, Jose Manuel Zelaya.

“Calls for extortion, kidnapping, murdering people, hitmen came out from these penal centers.”, he denounced.

Members of the Public Order Military Police (PMOP) guard the arsenal seized from the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs, in the village of Las Pozas in Tegucigalpa on July 10, 2023. (Photo by Orlando SIERRA / AFP) (ORLANDO SIERRA /)

The operations began on June 26 by order of President Castro, a week after the women’s prison -located in the area of Tamaranorth of Tegucigalpa- inmates of the gang 18th Quarter They left their module and broke into the one where the rivals of the MS-13. They attacked them with shots and set fire to the center with a balance of 46 deaths.

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Castro ordered the PMOP to take the “control of the 21 prisons in the country”.

When the deployment began, Commander Muñoz denounced that the weapons were brought into the prisons by the gang members paying bribes to the custodians.

In the last 20 years, more than 1,000 deaths have been recorded in the prisons of Honduras, according to the state Human Rights Commissioner. The worst tragedy happened in Comayaguacenter of the country, where 362 people perished in a fire in 2012.

Source: Elcomercio