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El Salvador Arrests Thousands but Gangs Keep Their Guns

InSight Crime

22 July 2022

By Roberto Valencia

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And seizures of all types of firearms have been trending downwards. From June 2021 to May 2022, a period covering the first three months of the crackdown, authorities seized 2,965 firearms, according to figures from the Ministry of Security. This compares to 3,683 firearms seized in all of 2018, and 3,413 in 2019, and shows a slight rise from the 2,682 weapons found in 2020, according to data from El Salvador's national police. (…)

[Chart in original]
Assault Rifle Seizures vs. Gangs Arrests in El Salvador

While the government of Presinte Nayib Bukele has arrested over 40,000 alleged gang members in El Salvador, seizures of rifles belonging to the MS13 and Barrio18 have remained stagnant. Most of these caches of firearms have, so far remained out of the government reach.

Month: Assault rifles seized - Alleged gang members and associates arrested
2021
January: 14 - 728
February: 24 - 654
March: 26 - 780
April: 14 - 631
May: 15 - 952
June: 24 - 822
July: 9 - 859
August: 12 - 706
September: 12 - 676
October: 25 - 898
November: 14 - 919
December: 17 - 849
2022
January: 9 - 631
February: 9 - 706
March: 19 - 3,601
April: 39 - 18,909
May: 24 - 13,871
June: 34 - 7,999

The police reports accessed by InSight Crime reveal the scant success of the Salvadoran state in locating gang arsenals. The reports also put Bukele's triumphalism into perspective.

ID: N887

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