Honduras Security News

Videos from the funeral of a drug lord killed by the Army alongside his wife showed armed attendees firing weapons; the president posted on social media identifying those in the footage as criminals seeking to intimidate the public.

Marcos Tulio Mejía Urrutia, 28, was arrested in Atima on a judicial warrant issued September 3 for the murder of Yester Melgar Vega.

Iván Velásquez, manager of investment firm Koriun, remains detained at Támara prison while his lawyers argue he poses no flight risk and is in danger, and are asking a court to grant him house arrest.

Honduras recorded at least 193 femicides in the first nine months of 2026, a crisis that women's rights defender Honorina Rodríguez attributes partly to inadequate police investigation capacity and calls for stronger institutional funding to prevent and prosecute gender violence.

Suspected gang members sent a package containing a mobile phone and live ammunition to taxi drivers at a stand in Barrio El Bosque, Tegucigalpa, demanding an extortion payment, causing drivers to suspend service.

In a video recorded before his murder, Dereck McNeil, a key witness in the four-year-old disappearance of Angie Peña, identified five Atic criminal investigators and alleged they attempted to manipulate the investigation.

A public-transport bus lost brake control on the eastern highway near Uyuca on September 8, killing one construction worker and injuring at least two others, including a passenger.

A man identified as César Ardón was shot and killed inside a barbershop in the Gracias a Dios neighborhood of Danlí, El Paraíso; authorities are investigating the motive and searching for suspects.

A minor accused by prosecutors of forcing four protected witnesses to flee Villa Nueva, Tegucigalpa on September 6 has been released from prosecution after a judge dismissed the charges.

Security Minister Gerzon Velásquez signed a $2 million contract with Canadian firm Forensic Technology Inc. to equip the National Police's investigative division with an Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) to strengthen criminal investigation capabilities.

Brayan David Estévez, 31, died when a dump truck with mechanical failure struck him on a private construction site in San Manuel, Cortés; the driver said he lost brakes after the transmission shaft broke and severed the air line.

A judge ordered three men held pending trial on charges of transporting 1,234 kg of cocaine in a hidden-compartment tanker truck seized in El Progreso, Yoro on August 27; they also face weapons charges.

A suspect linked to criminal gangs that threatened residents of Villa Nueva was arrested following the displacement of multiple families from the neighborhood.

Jorge Benjamín Martínez Ramos, 27, a Salvadoran who had lived in Yarula, La Paz, for six months, was identified after being found bagged in a sewer in Marcala on August 27; authorities are investigating the circumstances of his death.

Federal court documents show the Valle Valle organization employed couriers to smuggle cocaine through US airports between 2005 and 2014, with proceeds funneled back to Honduras.

Isabella, a five-year-old from Nueva Arcadia in Copán, was found dead in the Chamelecón River after being reported missing; preliminary reports indicate she drowned.

Honduras's Naval Forces seized 800 gallons of smuggled fuel, three boats, and satellite communications equipment during a raid on clandestine supply points north of Caratasca in Gracias a Dios, disrupting a transnational crime network's Caribbean logistics.

An analysis of government data from 2013 to August 2026 found that 6,149 of roughly 10,000 pedestrians struck by vehicles in Honduras died — one death every 17 hours — with excessive speed, lack of road safety education, and driver and pedestrian irresponsibility cited as leading causes.

Two men—Edwin Mendoza, 35, and Wilmer Velásquez, 50, both from Tegucigalpa—were killed when a radio antenna structure they were uninstalling collapsed in the Lourdes neighborhood of Comayagua on September 6.

About 10 families in sector 8 of the Villa Nueva neighborhood have been forced to flee their homes after alleged M-18 gang members threatened them — one victim was reportedly tied up and threatened directly — with police arriving only to stand guard over the displaced families.

Security Minister Gerzon Onán Velásquez and National Police Director Rigoberto Oseguera Mass announced increased patrols, community prevention programs, and improved street lighting in La Entrada, Copán, to combat extortion and drug trafficking.

Five women were murdered in separate incidents across Honduras, including a triple killing in El Porvenir, Francisco Morazán, bringing the year's total of violent female deaths to 186 according to official security data.

Three unidentified women were shot and killed by unknown assailants who burst into a house in the Las Acacias neighborhood of El Porvenir, Francisco Morazán, on Sunday; police are investigating.

Two men identified as Edil Álvarez and Rossel Furtado were shot and killed Saturday night at a beach-access area in Sandy Bay, Roatán; police are investigating and residents are demanding faster action to prevent more violence.

Honduras's anti-narcotics directorate, aided by military police, carried out four court-authorized raids in Cortés on September 5 against suspected MS-13 members, seizing 3 kg of cocaine, firearms, 11 phones, six vehicles, and about L7,500 in cash, and arrested one suspect.

A 28-year-old man was arrested in Krausirpi, Gracias a Dios, on suspicion of shooting his pregnant partner, Leany Lacayo Rosa, 24, following a dispute; she and her unborn child died from their injuries at a Tegucigalpa hospital.

The body of an unidentified man was found Saturday in the Río Humuya near Campo Llano, on the border between Santa Cruz de Yojoa and Santa Rita in Yoro, with authorities investigating whether his death was criminal or an accidental drowning.

The National Anti-Kidnapping Unit rescued a man held for ransom in Linaca, Choluteca, after kidnappers posing as customers demanded 500,000 lempiras (about $20,000); police say the case is one of 17 virtual kidnappings this year, allegedly orchestrated by a transnational network of Colombians and Hondurans.

Armed Forces units seized three coca plantations spanning seven acres with 25,000 bushes and a marijuana plot with 3,500 plants in Olanchito and El Bañadero in Yoro department, part of a broader 2026 drug-eradication campaign that has already secured 54 coca farms.

A decomposed body discovered floating in Tegucigalpa's Guaserique River showed apparent signs of violence, prompting authorities to suspect the man was murdered and disposed of in the water.