Mexico City, May 24 (IANS): The number of federal crimes committed in Mexico last month was the lowest since December 2019, Minister of Security and Citizen Protection Rosa Icela Rodriguez said.

In a monthly report on crime, Rodriguez said that in April there were 6,487 crimes that violated federal laws, a 28.4 per cent drop compared to December 2018, when President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Today we are working intelligently, with strategy and concrete actions, to weaken criminal structures," Rodriguez said.

"We are on the right path to zero impunity and zero corruption."

Crimes against public health, which in Mexico include drug trafficking and drug dealing, went down 27.6 per cent year on year for the January-April period this year, she said, while assaults dropped 8.6 per cent in the same period.

Only two categories of crime showed an uptick, with property crimes rising 9.3 perc ent year on year in the first four months of 2022, and firearms and explosives violations increasing 2.4 per cent, according to official statistics.

Meanwhile, intentional homicides continued to decline April, hitting the lowest level with 2,547 cases, down from a record 3,074 in June 2018.