Millions of poppy plants found in Guatemala
Well folks, it ain't just Afganistan and the Taliban raising all those poppies for heroin. Our Latin American "friends" look to be doing the same. These ain't your father's drug wars people...and it ain't just marijuana and meth-amphetamine coming in over the Mexican border!!!
Millions of poppy plants found in Guatemala
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
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Foreign News Report
La Hora (Guatemala City, Guatemala) 2/24/08
161.4 million poppy plants valued at $529.7 million U.S. dollars were reported seized this week by Guatemalan security forces in various operations mainly in the hill area of the Department of San Marcos, in the western part of the country near the Mexican border. There were related "incidents" involving local area residents resulting in the wounding of two soldiers. Guatemala's Dep't. of the Interior expects the arrival of two helicopters from the U.S. this week as part of a cooperation program with Guatemala. The aircraft will be used in the fight against narcotraffic.
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El Financiero (Mexico City) 2/24/08
In Chiapas state, Mexico, the governor of the Department of San Marcos, Guatemala, Axel Lopez, said that drug traffic across the Mexico-Guatemala border has increased almost 60% in the last five years and that Guatemalan farmers are offered large amounts of money to grow poppy and marihuana, so they are no longer growing corn.
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Frontera (Tijuana, Baja Calif.) 2/24/08
Twenty men believed linked to the Arellano-Felix organized crime gang were arrested by Mex. army personnel in Tijuana. An anonymous call led to eighteen of them at a house on Benito Juarez St., where they also found 12 firearms, including a sub-machinegun, some ammo, an unspecified amount of drugs, and half a million dollars.
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El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 2/24/08
A flat tire on an 18-wheeler also made an escorting sedan stop along a highway leading to Gomez Palacio, Durango. Mex. federal highway police also stopped and found 884 kilos of weed hidden in the trailer. Four men were arrested.
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Diario (Ciudad Juarez edition) 2/24/08
1. Area residents called police in Juarez when two pieces of black luggage turned up on the street in front of #2030 Aguirre Laredo St.; when police came, they found the suitcases contained the "foreign origin" I.D. , including the photograph, of an individual whose name and nationality were not disclosed.
Also in the suitcases: an S&W .32 cal.; a loaded "UZI"; two shotguns; 3 gas pistons; 8 clips, a military cartridge belt, some 256 rounds of various caliber ammo. A local judge assigned the case to the local "PGR" (Mex. Dep't. of Justice)
2. And, at a warehouse at #5600-A Popocatl. St., Juarez:
- "Approximately" 500 kilos of marihuana
- A Mak-90 & an AK47 assault rifles; an XM15-E2S carbine; 214 rounds and 3 clips
- 15 vehicles; 10 cellulars; 2 sets of handcuffs; a clip carrier and a portable radio
Four men were arrested. One was drunk.
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La Jornada (Mexico City) 2/24/08
update re yesterday's about the man shot at 3 p.m. out on the street in Juarez with others around, including children : the victim was a gunsmith with the Juarez police department.
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Milenio (Mexico City) 2/24/08
On the Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point)-Sonoyta highway someone buried 110 packages of marihuana with a total weight of 880 kilos. This at at around the 6 kilometer point on the highway. (note: smaller seizures of cocaine (between 10 and 20 kilos) are also being mentioned at both ends of Mexico's northern border area)
And one Pedro Villeda Sanchez was caught by Mex. police just as he was about to cross five Central Americans over into the U.S. near Sasabe, AZ; then he attempted to bribe the officers to be allowed to go free.
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a.b.c. (Mexico City) 2/24/08
One hundred thirty-seven officers and agents from a variety of law enforcement agencies in and around Nezahualcoyotl have been arrested for a number of crimes "since the start of the present administration." Nezahualcoyotl is a satellite of Mexico City. The arrested men cover the range of agencies from federal, state, local and adjacent town police departments.
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El Nuevo Diario (Managua, Nicaragua) 2/24/08
At dawn today, northbound on the Pan American Highway and believed headed for Honduras: a pickup truck with 144 kilos 799 grams of cocaine. Two men were arrested.
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-end of report-
