The once peaceful Mexican beach hub in Ensenada continues to experience high levels of cartel killings as the murder count for 2018 reaches 100 with only four arrests in response.

The 100th homicide was registered on Sunday when police discovered a male victim wrapped in a blanket and tossed on the side of the road, according to local reports. This discovery was made in the town of San Quintín which is located within the municipality of Ensenada, 60 miles south of California.

According to local media reports, in 2017, the total number of homicides registered by May 16 was 66 compared to 100 this year. Of the 100 victims, only 39 were positively identified. According to Breitbart Texas law enforcement sources, it is believed that the small number of victims identified can be blamed on the presence of street-level dealers and cartel gunmen from outside the area with no local connections.

Breitbart Texas has previously reported on the ongoing cartel violence in Ensenada to include the record-breaking April murder count. Breitbart Texas also reported on the discovery of six bodies believed to have been victims of cartel violence unearthed last month. Over the weekend, Ensenada saw four homicides recorded in less than 24 hours, according to local media.

At the current time, Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and remnants of the Cártel Arellano Félix are aligned in their fight against warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Aquiles and “Los Uriarte,” as previously reported by Breitbart Texas. These criminal groups are fighting over the lucrative market for street sales and valuable land and sea smuggling routes that Ensenada provides.

As violence continues to spike in Ensenada, so do cartel-related drug smuggling activities. This past Saturday, a seizure of 208 kilograms (458 pounds) was made during an operation by the Criminal Investigators of the Federal Police along with elements of the Mexican Marines. This shipment of cocaine was reported seized in the port of Ensenada from the Sealand Philadelphia arriving from Puerto Callao, Peru. The cocaine was packaged in 10 sacks within a shipment of frozen squid.

In a second seizure, the Mexican Army seized 800 kilos of marijuana, a kilo of “cristal” (methamphetamine) and one kilo of fentanyl in rural Santo Tomas near Rancho Los Pirules.

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.) You can follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at robertrarce@gmail.com