Mexico's largest pot bust even bigger than originally thought, officials say

Mexico’s largest-ever pot bust tipped the scales at 134 tons, far more than the original estimate of 110 tons. Mexican authorities believe the dope may have belonged to the country’s most powerful drug cartel.

The Mexican military announced the updated figures after weighing 15,300 packages discovered in a pre-dawn raid Monday in an eastern Tijuana industrial district. Police found the enormous stash after a shootout with suspects who eventually led them to six cargo containers packed with the drugs.

Officials said a preliminary investigation showed that the marijuana, broken into smaller shipments, was transported to Tijuana by the Sinaloa Cartel, also known as the Pacific Cartel.

“There are indications that suggest that it belongs to the organization of the Pacific,” said Alejandro Poire, the security spokesman for President Felipe Calderon.

The marijuana is scheduled to be incinerated Wednesday afternoon at an army base in Tijuana. Destined for U.S. markets, the dope arrived via land, air and sea routes, according to General Alfonso Duarte Mugica, the military’s top commander in Baja California.

-- Richard Marosi

Photo: Mexican soldiers seized 134 tons of marijuana in a pre-dawn raid Monday in an eastern Tijuana industrial district. Credit: Jorge Duenes / Reuters

Comments

[Dee]

October 12, 2010, LA Now blog at LATimes.com: "Legalizing marijuana in California will not curtail Mexican drug organizations study says."
134 tons of pot grown and distributed by gangsters and this would not be affected at all if the CA market is removed from that equation (not to mention the states that are destined to follow). Really?
Vote YES on 19.

[Mike Miguel]

Let the body count begin!!!

[TedDansen]

Proof that the legalization of cannabis truly will take away 60% the Mexican drug profits. This bust proves the RAND study saying far less than 60% of the cartels profits come from cannabis sales is false. Someone was waiting to receive $500 million worth of cannabis in the USA. The simple fact is that regulating the sale of cannabis to adults will cripple the drug cartels. There are what look like victories for the prohibitionists. But, even a massive bust is actually a win for cannabis growers. This haul will drive up consumer prices for a short time. But, with the economy like it is, the increased price of cannabis will lure otherwise law abiding people to join the green rush. In fact, it's likely that high quality domestic grown cannabis will quickly replace this lost source of supply. That's if the Mexican President supported drug cartel doesn't just burn a little for show & sell the rest for almost pure profit. Want to bet no reporters will be allowed to see all the cannabis destroyed? The only thing that will stop the endless cycle of arrests & seizures with new growers & sources of cannabis is legalization. The bigger the bust the more proof that prohibition isn't working. The removal of high level drug lords just leads to murderous struggles to determine who will be the new kingpin. Where are the bootleggers running around butchering competitors over alcohol distribution rights? Re-legalizing alcohol ended that madness. So will the legalization of cannabis end the drug cartels killing their competitors over distribution rights of the otherwise non-lethal cannabis plant. Prohibition makes it easier for minors to buy cannabis than to buy alcohol. Because, alcohol sales are regulated & limited to adults. End cannabis prohibition. Legalize cannabis sales to adults. Do it for the children. Then we'll eventually see cannabis use drop like it has in the Netherlands. Cannabis prohibition is a counter productive failure & self fulfilling disaster. Cannabis prohibition = anarchy. Cannabis legalization = regulation. Remember the Vietnam 'body count' fallacy, where big piles of dead bodies was supposed to mean we were winning that war. 30,000 Mexican dead drug war victims in just 2 years only proves that a whole lot of people died over the cannabis plant that's never killed even one consumer by overdose death. No one is being saved by cannabis prohibition. But, a whole lot of crime, corruption, police militarization & rich drug lords have been generated by prohibiton. The new very conservative WSJ readers poll shows 93.4% of responders believe California voters should legalize cannabis for adult consumption. I'd say this poll flies in the face of the polls that show 52% support of legalization. A recent Zogby poll shows only 11.3 percent of responders believe the war on drugs is working. American voter support for cannabis legalization has reached critical mass. Politicians who want to maximize votes for themselves should take note that they'll gain far more by supporting legalization than backing the obviously failed cannabis prohibition. Oh how the tide has turned. The writing is on the wall & it says, "Cannabis prohibition is a dead letter". Legalize cannabis. Vote 'YES' on Prop 19.

[Hypatia]

This whole think stinks of set up. Who in their right mind believes a word that comes out of Mexico. They say they are gonna 'incinerate it' (use your deepest, most menacing voice for that line). Sure they will! And Santa's coming to town with the Easter Bunny for a Halloween date.

[Danulv007]

The Ted Dansen?

[Maulder]

The Mexican government just recently destroyed 134 tons of marijuana. Could this be related? A warning perhaps to informants?
Clearly this narco-war in Mexico represents a clear and present danger to the security of the United States.

It needs to made clear to the Mexican government that if they cannot suppress this insurgency the the United States will.