Drug dealing in Mexico City: 31,000 arrested by police; only 17,000 with investigation files by the Attorney General’s Office

In more than five years, the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office has conducted more than 17,000 investigation files for the crime of drug dealing due to simple possession.

The municipalities with the most cases were Iztapalapa, Cuauhtémoc, Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón, and Gustavo A. Madero, where these investigations were most frequent. These five districts account for 80 percent of the cases in Mexico City.

Based on this information, it was found that from January 1, 2020, to July 15, 2025, 17,610 reports of simple possession drug dealing were filed in the 16 municipalities, of which 34.6 percent (6,098) were filed in Iztapalapa, followed by Cuauhtémoc with 21.4 percent (3,767), Venustiano Carranza with 8.7 percent (1,539), Álvaro Obregón with 8.5 percent (1,503), and Gustavo A. Madero with 7.0 percent (1,241).

Regarding the annual record, 3,099 files were recorded in 2020, 2,799 in 2021 (representing the year with the fewest investigation files), 2,915 for 2022, 3,029 in 2023, and 3,161 for 2024 (the year with the most files opened).

In the case of 2025, from January 1 to July 15, 2,607 files were processed, which does not exceed those recorded in previous years. However, this year’s current rate of 372 files per month predicts that more than 4,000 will be registered by the end of the year, representing a 41 percent increase.