Mexican Army Seizure: 3.6 Tons of Opiates

3.6 metric tons of a a liquid containing heroin was seized by the Mexican army. There is a possibility that the dark liquid was opium paste which would eventually be processed in order to create heroin.

Your average kilogram of opium paste yields roughly 1/10 the amount of heroin. Mexican authorities did not release any information regarding how much heroin the seized liquid opiates would produce, however, the Mexican Defense Department released a press statement which said:

“…the most important seizure of this drug in the history of the army and air force.”

Prior to this record 3.6 metric ton opiate seizure, 245 kilograms of opiates was the largest drug seizure of opiates. The 245 kilograms is equivalent to 540 pounds and was discovered in Guerrero back in January of 2011. According to the Defense Department, the 245 kilograms would have resulted in over 600,000 doses of heroin being produced.

Increased production of heroin across the border in Mexico has resulted in increased availability of the drug in the United States. To highlight the sheer magnitude of the heroin production occurring in Mexico, the U.S. Justice Department claimed in their 2011 National Drug Threat Assessment:

“The level of illicit poppy cultivation in Mexico was second only to that in Afghanistan in 2009, potentially producing an estimated 50 metric tons of heroin.”

The recent Mexican army opiates seizure took place in the mountain town of Coyuca de Catalan which is located in the Mexican state of Guerrero. The mountains of Guerrero have been long suspected of cultivating opium poppies, however, it wasn’t until recent years that Mexican drug cartels began to process the paste into heroin as they previously received their supply from Colombian drug cartels.

Mexican drug traffickers smuggling drugs into the United States have found themselves in an extremely profitable position which has resulted in a shift of power from the traditional drug suppliers found in countries such as Colombia to the Mexican traffickers just south of the U.S. border.

On February 1 of this year, the Mexican army raided a drug lab in the mountain town of Coyuca de Catalan which resulted in the seizure of 3,600 liters of a dark liquid later identified as liquid opiates. While the Defense Department released no official statement in regards to why the seizure was not made public knowledge for well over a month, it would seem logical to assume that pending investigatory work took precedence over the timely dissemination of information to the public as the release of such information has the potential to inhibit their investigation.

What are your thoughts on this record drug seizure?

Source: FoxNews.com