Major Raids Target ‘El Hindú’ Trafficking Network in Cancún

Cancún, December 11. A high-impact operation coordinated by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (FEMDO), the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), and the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) was deployed this Thursday and into early Friday morning in Cancún and Isla Mujeres. The objective was to detain and dismantle the sophisticated criminal migrant trafficking network led by Vikrant Bhardwaj, alias “El Hindú,” a central figure in organized crime with deep political implications and ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.

The raids on luxury residential properties and marinas in Cancún and Isla Mujeres were intended to detain him and secure part of his properties acquired with illicit money.

This blow dealt by federal authorities to the ‘Hindu Mafia’ revives old wounds among officials and politicians who enjoyed the economic favors granted by the man who is now a fugitive from Mexican and U.S. justice.

The protection provided by some local police elements alerted him, and he managed to avoid capture at at least two of his properties located in Benito Juárez, Cancún.

The simultaneous raids focused on high-value properties identified as operation centers for Vikrant Bhardwaj’s network.

One of the targeted locations was the Marina Punta del Este, located at kilometer 10.3 of Cancún’s Hotel Zone. Simultaneously, federal forces secured a luxurious mansion in the exclusive Puerto Cancún subdivision, specifically at 125 Calle Los Canales, a property allegedly used directly by the criminal leader.

The mobilization, which generated great expectation, seeks, in addition to the detention of “El Hindú,” to gather information and evidence against the transnational criminal organization known as “Bhardwaj HSO,” which uses the Mexican Caribbean as a key platform for its illicit activities.

Pressure from the United States on Mexico to achieve his detention has increased, demanding his prompt capture.

Federal authorities have maintained total secrecy regarding the immediate results of the proceedings.

Vikrant Bhardwaj came to public light following the recent sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified “Bhardwaj HSO,” based in Cancún, as a sophisticated organization involved in trafficking thousands of undocumented migrants from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South America, with a final destination in the United States.

According to binational investigations, Bhardwaj’s network managed to operate with impunity for more than ten years in Cancún thanks to an extensive network of complicity and corruption.

It has been documented that the organization’s growth occurred hand in hand with the Sinaloa Cartel, which provided protection, allowing it to create a scheme that served both drug trafficking and human trafficking.

OFAC has detailed that the network uses its own yachts and marinas—like the one intervened today—to transport migrants to Mexico.

Once in Cancún, the organization provided them with lodging in hostels and hotels it owned, located even in the city center, before coordinating their final transfer to the U.S. border, primarily using the Tapachula-Cancún-Mexicali corridor.

Investigations indicate that the organization’s power reached the point of controlling officials from the National Migration Institute (INM) in Cancún and Tapachula, who facilitated the entry and transfer of undocumented migrants in exchange for bribes.

This corruption system allowed migrants to board domestic flights from Cancún to the northern border, bypassing migration controls through a system of “checked-off” lists and payments of fees that reached up to $4,500 per person.

It is stated that this illicit money served to sponsor political campaigns and enrich officials at all three levels of government, allowing Bhardwaj to present himself publicly as a “global entrepreneur” while mingling with businessmen and politicians, many of them linked to previous administrations.

CRIMINAL TIES

Bhardwaj’s relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel has led to activities beyond migrant trafficking, including drug trafficking and money laundering. He has even been linked to executions, such as the case of lawyer José Armando Orozco S., killed in Plaza Península.

Orozco had provided services to the “El Hindú” group, and his death, allegedly ordered by hitmen in the service of Leticia Rodríguez Lara “Doña Lety,” may have been to silence him about criminal agreements with the network following the arrest of Héctor Elías Flores Aceves “El 15,” then leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in the area.

Today’s operations represent the first large-scale, forceful action by Mexican authorities against this powerful criminal network, whose activities have been documented by Diario Cambio22 and intelligence agencies since 2020, without previous administrations taking action, despite U.S. demands to stop this lucrative business.