MEXICO CITY, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The United States manufactured most of the weapons seized by authorities in Mexico over the last two years, according to a report released Monday by Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Mexican security forces seized 18,091 U.S.-made weapons between Jan. 1, 2020 and Nov. 18, 2021, an average of 812 guns or other firearms a month, the ministry said.
Of the weapons seized, over 10,500 were handguns and more than 7,300 were shotguns, the report said.
Mexico estimates that at least half a million pieces of weapons are brought to the country illegally each year from the United States and fall into the hands of criminals south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
More than 3.9 million crimes are committed in Mexico each year by criminals using U.S.-made weapons, 70 percent of which can be tracked to the United States, according to the ministry.
In a bid to decrease U.S. arms entering Mexico, the Mexican government filed a lawsuit against 11 U.S. arms manufacturers and distributors in August.
