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Mexico City police make record cocaine bust

July 27, 2022

Police found 1.6 metric tons of cocaine stashed on the outskirts of Mexico City — the capital's largest-ever cocaine haul. Four suspected cartel members were arrested.

https://p.dw.com/p/4EgqI
A Mexican police officer with his face covered carrying 1.5 tonnes of seized cocaine packages.
The city's security chief said it was the biggest cocaine bust in the capital's historyImage: Mexico City's Secretary of Public Security/REUTERS

Authorities in Mexico City seized more than 1.6 metric tons (1.8 tons) of cocaine on Tuesday in what's believed to be the biggest-ever bust of its kind in the Mexican capital.

The city's security chief Omar Garcia Harfuch called it "the largest seizure of cocaine in Mexico City by far."

Hundreds of packets of cocaine, believed to originate from Colombia, were found in hidden compartments inside two trailers on the outskirts of the city.

Four men were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the Sinaloa Cartel.

Mexico City authorities seizing 1.5 tonnes of cocaine in packages hidden inside a truck
Hundreds of packets of cocaine were stashed on a highway at the edge of Mexico CityImage: via REUTERS

The war on drugs continues

The bust follows 14 other cartel-related arrests in Mexico City from two weeks ago. Meanwhile, in the north-west of the country, authorities also arrested infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who co-founded the Guadalajara cartel.

Although Tuesday's drug haul was a record-breaker for the capital city, Mexico overall is no stranger to mammoth cocaine busts.

In 2006, authorities in Ciudad del Carmen found five metric tons of cocaine inside a DC-9 jet, and in 2007, police seized 24 metric tons of cocaine from a ship in the port city of Manzanillo.

zc/jsi (AFP, dpa)