15 tons of pure meth seized in Mexico

MEXICO CITY - Mexican troops have made an historic seizure of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine in the western state of Jalisco, the Mexican army said in a statement released late Wednesday.

Soldiers discovered the huge cache in the town of Tlajomulco de Zuniga, a suburb of Mexico's second-largest city, Guadalajara.

The statement had no other details but said it would publicly present the seizure on Thursday. Spokesmen answering the phone at the army's base in Guadalajara refused to comment further.

No one could say late Wednesday what the largest seizure was previously in Mexico.

U.S.: Mexican drug lord "world's most powerful"

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said total meth seizures worldwide were 31 metric tons in 2009, the most recent figures available.

The find outside Guadalajra is more than four times the size of a major seizure last summer of 3.4 tons (3.1 metric tons) and more than twice the total amount of meth seized in Mexico in 2009, according to the U.N. report.

Mexico is the primary source of the meth sold in the United States, according to U.S. drug intelligence reports.

Methamphetamine production has been rising in Mexico, and much of the increase is attributed to the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who the U.S. Treasury Department calls the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.

Jalisco state has long been considered the hub of Sinaloa's methamphetamine trafficking, thought army statement didn't indicate which Mexican cartel may have been involved.

The Sinaloa cartel also is suspected of smuggling in mammoth amounts of precursor chemicals that are used produce meth in industrial-size operations. It also appears to be extending its massive production of methamphetamine into neighboring Guatemala, where remote, isolated mountains and an alliance with a key Guatemalan trafficker are making the Central American nation a new international meth production base.

Mexican authorities seized 675 tons of a key precursor chemical in December alone, and all of it was heading for Guatemala.

[BillG4500]

I wonder how much of this will be stolen and sold? We'll see a video later of Mexican soldiers burning bricks of rock salt.

[FactNotRhetoric]

"Puppets Obama and Holder" sold the guns to these drug dealers to be able to do this.

These drug dealers want to overthrow the Mexican democracy and put in a Dictatorship for the Hitler-Like NEW WORLD ORDER.

Puppets Obama and Holder are funding the overthrow of the Mexican Government with gun running like the FAST AND FURIOUS.

[BillG4500]

This is a huge bust. Annual meth consumption estimates for the US are somewhere between 15 and 40 metric tons per year. Usually what may seem like a large drug bust is only a drop in the bucket and will have no effect on price or availibility. Fifteen tons of pot would be a drop in the bucket because Americans consume tens of thousands of tons of it a year. This is a huge meth bust though, a big portion of the amount the of meth consumed in this country. There may be some impact on price and availibility of meth in the US after this bust. We don't know how accurate government consumption estimates are though and we don't know where these 15 tons would have ended up, but odds are most all of it was destined for this country. We're the big market for Mexican drug cartels.

[Readitagain]

That's sure going to jack the pricing up.

[buckyjo]

I didn't know they had trailer parks in Mexico.

[BillG4500]

They aren't making quantity like this in trailer parks. I handled all kinds of meth lab cases as a punlic defender back before they put the pseudoephidrine behind pharmacy counters. The average kitchen meth lab was producing about 10 grams tops per batch. There are a million grams in a metric ton, so this is 15 million grams. I'm glad we have far fewer meth labs, but most all the meth on the streets was coming from Mexico even before we made it much harder to get enough pseudoephidrine to keep small labs running.

[fredisalive]

looks like tea party will have lost a good chunk of its population's recreational drugs! Its not going to be a good 2012!

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Huh! And I remember a day not long ago, when Mr. Reagan assured us all that the filthy Nigaraguan government had to go, and we must at all cost support the Nigaraguan rebel "freedom fighters" to spread murder and mayhem. But all for naught as the Nigaraguans fixed their own problems peacefully. Guatemala, on the other hand, was the bastion of freedom in Central America, and Mr. Reagan felt the need to support their government with training on torturing Guatemalan citizens and genocide against the Mayans. Of course, I entirely see his wisdom in interfering in the way we did to employ violence without hesitation, for at least one country in Central America is prepared today to furnish our children recreational drugs in mass quantity (Guatemala). Thanks, Mr. Reagan, for your wonderful foresight to leave us with this lasting legacy!

[robertclarkrhodes2]

If you ask me, we should be using our military closer to home, to help close our U.S. boarder. These drugs are coming through a porous border, which when militarized, will stop many problems in Mexico as well as the U.S.

Are the troops in Afghanistan doing as much there?

[cyberus-2009]

15 tons seized?

Wow, somebody really forgot to make their quarterly bribe deposit must be

[mecanik-2009]

This is what legalizing marijuana will get you more of.

[displeased2]

Please explain.

[BillG4500]

It would do the opposite. Mexicans produce between 15,000 and 30,000 metric tons of pot that they sell here. The meth, cocaine and heroin is often run through the same networks as he pot. It piggybacks in and is distributed through the same networks throughout the country. This gives cartels access to million and millions of pot smokers. Often the same middle level dealers supplying the pot are selling meth to street level dealers who offer it to people who like to party. Cartels recruit proven pot smugglers to smuggle meth and cocaine, higher margin drugs. They recruit mid level pot dealers to sell these drugs, who in tirn recruit small time pot dealers to sell them. The black market for illegal drugs is mostly a black market for marijuana as most buyers and sellers are transacting in pot. If we take the pot business and and regulate it, cartels lose fertile recruiting ground and lose access to millions of pot buyers who will no longer be doing business with the same people who sell the meth and cocaine. They'll be relying on drug addicts and gang bangers to sell the hard stuff. Recruiting will be harder There will be far fewer dealers and they'll be easier for law enforcement to target.

[Choons]

I'd like to know what they will do with 15 tons of meth? Some quick math and that's 13.6 million grams- enough to keep the entire population of Mexico City high for a week. Burning it would seem to be a pollution hazard, as would any other disposal method I can think of. Will it end up in legitimate "legal" pharmaceutical speed?

[BillG4500]

Mexico uses the metric system and normally when they mention "tons" they're talking about metric tons. So, this would be 15 million grams. I imagine they will burn it. This is a huge bust. Annual US consumption estimates vary and aren't extremely accurate. But I've seen givernment consumption estimates for the US anywhere between 15 and 40 metric tons per year. A 15 ton pot bust would be a drop in the bucket, but this is a serious bust. Wow.