250 tonnes of drug-making chemicals seized in Mexico

Asia Pacific News.Net
Saturday 24th December, 2011

At least 252 tonnes of synthetic drug-making chemicals have been seized at a Mexican port in one of biggest seizures of such substances in the country.

The monomethylamine chemical, used to make illegal synthetic drugs such as crystal meth, were seized at the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas.

The shipment, reportedly sent from Shanghai, was destined for Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala, said the navy secretariat, the federal attorney general's office and the internal revenue service in a joint statement.

The drug precursors were found by customs officials inside 1,160 barrels at the port, located in the western state of Michoacan.

The seizure came on the heels of two other cases this month at the same port. Both the earlier shipments, of 205 tonnes and 100 tonnes of monomethylamine, were destined for the same Guatemalan port.

Mexico's biggest-ever seizure of drug precursor chemicals was the confiscation of 839 tonnes in July in Queretaro, which topped the previous record of 200 tonnes discovered last year in Manzanillo.

--IANS/EFE

pm

Have your say on this story