|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
MEXICO CITY - Police are in the midst of a pre-Christmas blitz, with drug raids in at least 14 states and dozens of seizures taking in about 45 tons of marijuana and scores of homes, hotels, ranches, yachts and luxury cars. One of the main targets is Cancun, Mexico's most popular tourist destination, a glitzy beach town on the country's southeastern coast. Authorities announced late Monday that they had swept into the state of Quintana Roo and confiscated 22 homes, four hotels, offices, restaurants, vehicles and other property. No one has been charged so far in the state, but the sprawling investigation into drug trafficking in Cancun isn't over, say officials in the Mexican attorney general's office. The most recent seizures so far include the Seguridad Lualli company, which is in charge of security at Cancun's airport; the Costa Real, Gran Caribe Real, Laguna Real and Porto Real hotels; and the Mr. Papas restaurant. Also confiscated were a 1998 Gran Marquis, a black 1993 Cadillac, a red 1996 Corvette, a 1999 BMW, a 1997 Mercedes, two Mint Special Edition Yamaha motorcycles, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, four yachts, and other assets. Elsewhere over the 2 1/2 weeks, Mexican police have intercepted dozens of large marijuana shipments, including 17 tons in San Luis Potosi state, 9 tons in Sinaloa state, 3.5 tons in Durango state and 15.5 tons in 11 other states. Much of the government's law enforcement muscle has been focused on Quintana Roo, an increasingly hot drug-transit spot during the last year. Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo has said that the counternarcotics effort there is immense, involving about 15,000 anti-drug troops. Cancun, a nearly 9-mile-long resort, is one of the world's leading tourist destinations, capturing about a quarter of all visitors to Mexico. U.S. anti-drug agents say that Quintana Roo is also popular with traffickers, who use the state's sparsely populated coastline to shuttle drugs north from South America. In November 1997, Mexico City's Reforma newspaper reported that Mario Villanueva Madrid, Quintana Roo's governor, had been linked to the Juarez drug gang, based in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso. Mr. Villanueva called the report "defamatory" and "reckless" and took out full-page ads in at least six daily newspapers. On Nov. 10, 1997, he asked federal authorities to investigate, and he has been telling everyone who will listen that he's not connected to the drug business. Copyright 1998 The Dallas Morning News In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. |
||||||||||||||||||
