Honduras Security News

Congress will advance a motion supporting the government's push to build a high-security prison for gang and organized-crime members, with plans to define the site, costs, and funding sources to begin construction within eight to ten months.

A Honduran court scheduled closing arguments in the trial of four people accused in the Delta Teams case—including alleged human trafficking and the disappearance of young Honduran Angie Peña on January 1, 2022—for October 23, with a verdict to follow.

A taxi driver was killed by unknown assailants on Seventh Avenue in Comayagüela on October 19; authorities are investigating but have not yet identified the victim or established a motive.

A judge ordered Yuri Gabriela Castañeda Melgar held pending trial on charges of ordering the murder of a pregnant woman, Yeni Elizabeth Rivera, in Colón over an alleged romantic dispute.

A security guard was wounded in a shooting at a Chinese restaurant on Boulevard Juan Pablo II in Tegucigalpa after a dispute over parking escalated into a gunfight; police ruled out a targeted attack and said the gunmen fled.

National Party congresswoman Fernanda Sandres was wounded by gunfire while traveling to a community in Santa Bárbara to deliver aid; she was treated for a superficial injury and is out of danger.

Colonel Karlthers Medina, former director of Támara prison, has been placed on administrative leave while authorities investigate his role in an L8 million (about $320,000) shortage in the prison canteen funds during his tenure.

The Military Police discovered an approximately two-acre illegal coca cultivation with 11,000 plants in a mountainous area of La Másica, Atlántida, during long-range patrols targeting drug trafficking and organized crime.

National Police arrested a man in Comayagua who was hiding drugs in a freezer at a commercial establishment used as a front for drug sales, seizing over 30 packets of suspected drugs and cash.

Residents of the Los Andes barrio in San Pedro Sula are reporting a surge in vehicle break-ins and parts theft occurring day and night, demanding increased police patrols and coordinated security responses.

Police arrested three suspected MS-13 members, including a 17-year-old, during a raid in Choloma and seized two pistols, a revolver, prohibited ammunition, and two tablets allegedly used for surveillance.

Authorities have charged 45 people—23 linked to MS-13, 19 to Barrio 18, and three to Cartel del Diablo—with membership in terrorist organizations following raids between September 21 and October 16; 25 have been formally indicted and 20 await hearings.

Andrés Cerna, an elderly man from Yoro, was struck and killed by a pickup truck on the CA-5 highway in Villanueva, Cortés, while crossing the median on his way to San Pedro Sula after a trip to obtain medicine.

Police arrested José Mauricio Interiano Perdomo, alias Casper, identified as a leader of the El Mudo gang in San Pedro Sula; authorities link him to a mass killing in April 2021 and allege the group commits home robberies, armed assaults, and murders.

Honduras National Police began a 70-day intensive operation in Tegucigalpa targeting organized crime structures under the Plan Shield of Honduras, deploying over 300 officers to conduct patrols, arrests of suspects with outstanding warrants, and targeted interventions through year-end.

National Police arrested a man known as "El Cuico," described as an independent drug distributor, during a raid in Potrerillos, Cortés.

Brian Alexander Sánchez, 27, was identified as the body found bagged and bearing signs of torture in the Ticamaya sector of Cortés; authorities are investigating the killing.

José Merlo was severely injured in an alleged machete attack by his brother Denis in El Paraíso on October 15, hours after their father's funeral, in what authorities believe may stem from a dispute over a family coffee farm.

National Police arrested a welder in Sabanagrande on suspicion of sexually abusing his 13-year-old sister-in-law.

Two children were attacked by pitbulls after entering a private property in La Ceiba on October 15; one escaped by climbing a tree unharmed, while the other suffered severe bites to the legs and arms and was hospitalized at Hospital Atlántida.

About 140 families were peacefully removed from an illegal settlement on private land in La Ceiba's west sector after occupying it for over a year; the owner pursued a legal claim to recover the property.

Benjamín Milla Paz, 51, was arrested Wednesday evening and is accused of killing two men and a woman in La Labor, Ocotepeque after they intervened to stop him from abducting a 14-year-old girl, who was later rescued safely.

Glenda Jiménez, a prosecutor with the Common Crimes unit in San Pedro Sula, was arrested by anti-corruption investigators on charges of allegedly accepting payments of between 500 and 20,000 lempiras from a complainant in exchange for promising to close a case against them.

A 74-year-old man in Comayagüela was arrested on October 14 after a physician discovered images and videos of child sexual abuse on his phone while helping clear storage space and reported it to authorities.

A teenage girl was sentenced to six years in prison for her role in the April 2026 killing of content creator Katerin Mejía, who was lured under false pretenses to Trujillo and later found dead in Tocoa; two other adults remain in pretrial detention in the case.

The military gave Col. Juan Carlos Osorto Castillo a dishonorable discharge following an internal honor tribunal that recommended his separation amid an investigation into the alleged embezzlement of 8 million lempiras from the Támara prison canteen system.

A judge ordered Ricardo Esteban Salgado Solano held in pretrial detention on charges of murder, attempted murder of family members, and animal cruelty for a machete attack in Tegucigalpa on October 9 that killed Sandra Verónica Salgado.

Mario Roberto Escobar, 48, died after being attacked with a machete by his brother during a family argument in the San Isidro neighborhood of Puerto Cortés; the circumstances remain under investigation.

A man known as 'El Abuelo' is suspected of shooting three people—two men and a woman—in the village of Las Vegas in Ocotepeque's La Labor municipality after they tried to prevent him from forcibly taking a young woman.

Honduras's National Police director warned that tattoo artists who provide services to gangs such as MS-13, the 18th Street Gang, and the Devil's Cartel face arrest and prison sentences if investigations prove their collaboration in illegal activities.