Honduras Security News

Forensic authorities exhumed the remains of two children and an adult in Rigores as part of the investigation into a mass killing that shocked the community.

Dayana Sánchez, 23, was stabbed during an argument with a neighbor in the Pineda Milla neighborhood of La Ceiba and died after arriving at Hospital General Atlántida; police are investigating.

Authorities arrested Carlos Alexis Molina Mencía, alias "Gato Negro," near La Ceiba in connection with the May 21 massacre in Rigores, Colón, and believe six to seven people were involved in the killing of 20 victims.

Four suspects have been sent to prison in connection with a computer fraud scheme that siphoned more than 2 million lempiras (roughly $80,000) from a company.

Firefighters in Yoro used a wooden board to free a 7-year-old boy who became trapped between the cargo box and cab of a pickup truck in El Pantano neighborhood; the cause of the incident and any injuries remain unclear.

Rescue workers recovered the body of a 9-year-old girl from the wreckage of a runaway dump truck that lost its brakes in the Villa Nueva neighborhood, bringing the death toll to eight.

Denia Marisol Ramírez Ortiz, 34, and Evelyn Yasmín Irías Hernández, 26, were among eight people killed in a crash in Tegucigalpa's Villa Nueva neighborhood; families remembered them as hardworking women devoted to their families and faith.

Officials and transport-sector representatives are calling for tougher enforcement of traffic laws, modern monitoring technology, and stricter driver-license suspension rules to reduce deaths in accidents involving heavy trucks.

A Honduran court has convicted 11 former agents of DIPAMPCO, a now-defunct police unit, the Public Ministry announced.

Security Minister Gerzon Velásquez said officers of the National Police who fail mandatory vetting examinations—including polygraph and drug tests—will be removed from the force, while those passing but lacking investigative skills will be reassigned.

A judge scheduled June 9 for the ruling in the initial hearing against three former San Pedro Sula municipal officials, including the mayor's son-in-law, accused of money laundering, bribery, and fraud in a scheme that prosecutors say caused losses exceeding 45.5 million lempiras.

A young man has agreed to an abbreviated legal procedure in connection with the killing of a resident in Lepaterique, prosecutors announced.

Five National Police officers were killed in a violent ambush at a house in Corinto belonging to a leader of a criminal organization linked to the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel; investigators say about 150 gang members participated in the attack.

The National Police began vetting 780 officers for the new Anti-Extortion and Terrorist Associations Division (Daet), which replaces the disbanded Dipampco unit and will focus on extortion, criminal networks, and organized-crime operations.

A dump truck that was apparently out of control plowed into vehicles and structures in the Villa Nueva neighborhood of Tegucigalpa at midday on June 1, killing nine people.

A judge scheduled a June 9 preliminary-hearing ruling on whether to send three former San Pedro Sula municipal officials — including the son-in-law of Mayor Roberto 'El Pollo' Contreras — to trial on charges of money laundering, influence peddling, and fraud tied to road contracts worth over 45.5 million lempiras (about $1.8 million) that prosecutors say were never lawfully executed.

A court found 11 former Dipampco agents guilty of kidnapping, robbery, and planting weapons and drugs on a Filipino citizen during an illegal 2023 raid in Villanueva, Cortés.

The National Police announced that approximately 90% of officers from the disbanded anti-gang unit Dipampco will not transfer to the new Anti-Extortion and Terrorist Associations Division (DAET), which requires specialized training and certified personnel, with the remainder potentially reassigned elsewhere.

Seven people were killed and 37 traffic accidents reported across Honduras over the weekend, according to César Aguilar of the national traffic authority (DNVT).

Students, graduates, and colleagues in Cofradía, Cortés have flooded social media with tributes to Víctor Fiallos, the beloved founder and principal of Instituto Polivalente Gubernamental Brisas del Valle, whose killing authorities are still investigating.

Attorney Ángel Murillo was sworn in as director of the ATIC criminal investigation agency as Honduras undertakes a broader security overhaul, including the new National Crime Agency and a replacement anti-extortion division after five officers died in a botched raid.

Honduran National Police seized a marijuana plantation during a raid in Guaimaca, Francisco Morazán, according to police.

More than 120 National Police officers took part in a saturation operation in Chamelecón, San Pedro Sula, aimed at curbing crime and strengthening security in the area.

Police arrested a man known as 'Cabeza de Toro,' a suspected member of the gang 'El Combo Que No Se Deja,' in the El Bosque neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, seizing 80 packets of alleged crack, marijuana, and cocaine along with a prohibited rifle.

Antonio Reyes, about 35, was shot and killed by armed assailants while riding a motorcycle in the San Juan neighborhood of Guaimaca, Francisco Morazán, with more than 12 shell casings found at the scene.

Honduran armed forces have destroyed more than 515,000 coca bushes across at least 25 illegal plantations and nine drug-processing sites in six departments so far this year, including a newly secured crop of 16,500 plants in Colón.

Officers carried out a raid in the village of Talgua, Salamá, Olancho, detaining one man on drug trafficking charges.

Congress President Tomás Zambrano is calling for a thorough investigation into a road accident in Villanueva that killed at least eight people and injured about a dozen, and urging authorities to enforce traffic laws strictly to prevent future crashes.

Honduras's National Police Commissioner Jorge Daniel Molina announced that most of the former DIPAMPCO unit's officers will be excluded from the new Anti-Extortion and Terrorist Associations Division, which will accept only personnel who pass vetting and certification tests.

A judge in San Pedro Sula ordered the pre-trial detention of Germán David Gómez Escobar and Mauricio Yandel Alvarado Montoya, accused of murdering three students in El Progreso, with an initial hearing set for June 3.