Mexican Navy seizes largest drug shipment in its history

The drugs were found distributed in six smaller vessels that were intercepted southwest of the port of Lázaro Cárdenas (west) by the authorities, who arrested 23 crew members.

A shipment of 8.3 tons of drugs was intercepted by the military in the waters of the Mexican Pacific, in what constitutes the largest seizure in the country in an operation at sea, the Navy reported this Friday.

“Naval personnel seized 8,361 kilograms of illicit cargo, which represents the largest amount of drugs seized in a maritime operation, unprecedented in history,” the Navy said in a statement.

Containers with 8,700 liters of fuel were also seized from the raided vessels, another of the illicit traffic controlled by drug cartels.

“The seized goods represent a loss of more than 2,099 million pesos (about 105 million dollars),” the ministry said in the bulletin.

This operation off the state of Michoacán is “considered the largest in terms of seizures at sea,” the authorities detailed.

The Navy has achieved higher drug seizures in previous years, but on land during operations in the Pacific ports, one of the largest drug trafficking routes.

The operation announced this Friday was carried out “days ago” with a surface unit supported by a helicopter, the statement said, without specifying a specific date.

At the same time, he highlighted that just 18 days after the start of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, the Secretariat has managed to seize 11.7 tons of drugs, 23 vessels and 12,825 liters of fuel, which is equivalent to almost three billion pesos (around 145.8 million dollars).

Written by: Oscar El Blue

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