Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the finding of illegal weapons and the transfer of inmates to other prisons.
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Seven inmates at a prison in Juarez, Mexico, were injured during a fight between rival factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel on Sunday, Chihuahua state police said.
The fight stemmed from “personal issues” between the gang members and is not part of an internal war over last month’s capture of Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a state official said.
“We had a fight at the prison, in an area where we have the Sinaloas, or the Chapos. It was a fight within the gang and is related to personal issues among them,” State Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya said in an online news conference Monday.
Three inmates suffered trauma to the head and one a broken arm keeping them in a hospital on Monday; three others received cuts to arms and hands. The knives were manufactured inside the prison, Loya said.
The police chief denied the fight was a result of Zambada’s alleged abduction in Mexico, reportedly at the hands of another Sinaloa cartel leader who flew in the same airplane where U.S. authorities took them into custody near El Paso. Crime experts in Mexico and the United States fear the perceived “betrayal” will lead to violence within one of the world’s largest and most dangerous criminal organizations.
“It was not related at all to the arrest of this character (Zambada) in the United States. The fight was not related to that,” Loya said. If anything, “many of these issues are also related to overcrowding. The Juarez Cereso was made to hold 2,800 and it has 4,174 (inmates) right now.”
Update: Illegal weapons found, inmates transferred
Late on Monday, Chihuahua state police conducted a surprise inspection of inmates’ quarters at Cereso No. 3 prison and located a stash of t50 knives and sharp homemade weapons. Other illegal items found included stereos, toy guns, dark police-style clothing and three portraits of La Santa Muerte (Holy Death), an icon popular among drug traffickers in Mexico.
On Tuesday morning, the state police announced the transfer of 76 cartel members from the Juarez prison to detention facilities in Chihuahua City and Parral.
“This strategy […] is part of a public safety effort to prevent violence and spilt up gangs inside the prisons to bring about a peaceful environment,” state authorities said in a statement.