• RIFLES: Mexican forces have recovered 109 American-made Barrett .50-caliber rifles since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in December 2018. The .50 rifles are considered to be some of the most sophisticated weaponry used by Mexican criminals, the Mexican Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
• HIGH POWER: Made by a Tennessee company specialized in high-caliber sniper rifles, the Barrett .50 rifles have become a weapon of choice among Mexico’s organized crime groups and are just a fraction of the total 9,279 weapons that the López Administration has seized.
• ANTI-AIRCRAFT: “These are the most sophisticated weapons and at some point we mentioned that these were anti-aircraft weaponry”, said Mexican Defense Minister, Luis Crescencio Sandoval, when mentioning the .50 caliber rifles along with the .50 machine guns and some rocket launchers.
• POPULAR: Illegal to possess in Mexico, the Barrett .50 rifles sit along other long guns recovered in Mexican crime scenes in recent years with a total of 227 units seized between 2010 and 2018, according to Government figures; 70% of the weapons seized in Mexico can be traced to the US.
