Reuters AlertNet Lite - Mexico seizes major shipment of meth-making chemical

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Mexico seizes major shipment of meth-making chemical

07 Dec 2006 07:03:42 GMT
Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Mexican police seized a large shipment of a chemical used for making methamphetamine on Wednesday in a Pacific state at the center of a bloody war between traffickers producing the drug for U.S. markets.

Police in the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan state uncovered 20 tons of ephedrine, a major haul of the tightly controlled chemical, in a shipment from China disguised as another substance, Televisa news channel reported.

Michoacan is a key air and sea transshipment point for U.S.-bound cocaine, and mountains inland from the coast are increasingly riddled with methamphetamine labs producing the drug for export to the United States.

A turf war in the once tranquil state has left a trail of severed heads and corpses as criminal groups battle for control of production and trafficking routes.

The strategic port of Lazaro Cardenas is often the scene of deadly shootouts between drug-traffickers and authorities, and police and the navy were guarding the ephedrine haul in case anyone tried to reclaim it, Televisa reported.

Mexican producers of methamphetamine are muscling in on the U.S. market as police crack down on labs in the United States, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Drug Intelligence Center.

Following the U.S. crackdown, so-called superlabs mass producing 'meth' have relocated to Mexico, where precursor chemicals like ephedrine are more easily available, the report said.

Mexican president Felipe Calderon vowed to crack down on violent crime after taking office on Friday, promising to rein in drug-traffickers who have turned parts of the country into war zones where police fear to tread.

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