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Mexico Cops Net Huge Drug Haul In Border Raid
10:50am Tuesday October 19, 2010
Katie Cassidy
More than 100 tons of marijuana bound for the US has been seized in Mexico in the country's biggest drug bust in years.
Security forces launched a pre-dawn raid at three properties in the border city of Tijuana, where they found some 10,000 sealed packages of dope. Army General Alfonso Duarte later told reporters the weed had an estimated street value in Mexico of 4.2bn pesos - about £214m. "Three operations took place simultaneously co-ordinating municipal, state, federal and army authorities," he said.
"Approximately 105 tons (was found). We think this equals the amount we seized in the last 10 months." Figures show Mexican police have bagged some 130 tons of marijuana over the past three years across the entire state of Baja California, where Tijuana is found. The huge bust came after local police were involved in a shoot-out with gunmen riding a convoy of seven vehicles.
The seized packages were marked with images including Homer Simpson
State officers and the army sent reinforcements to the scene and helped to out-muscle the gang. Eleven men were arrested and a load of marijuana was found in some of the vehicles, apparently prompting confessions from the detainees.
Security forces were then pointed to more of the illegal substance at a local ranch, a home and an apartment. General Duarte said the blocks of dope had been wrapped in different colours and labelled with apparently coded phrases - some were even stamped with pictures that included TV character Homer Simpson.
Local criminal gangs were stockpiling the weed to smuggle into the United States, according to the general. Mexico has been involved in a protracted and bloody war on drug cartels since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown in 2006. Some 28,000 people have been killed in the battle between the criminals and government forces.
