Massive meth seizure points to Mexico role

GUADALAJARA, Mexico - The seizure of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine in western Mexico, equal to half of all meth seizures worldwide in 2009, feeds growing speculation that the country could become a world platform for meth production, not just a supplier to the United States.

The sheer scale of the seizure announced late Wednesday in Jalisco state suggests involvement of the Sinaloa cartel, a major international trafficker of cocaine and marijuana that has moved into meth production and manufacturing on an industrial scale.

Army officials did not say what drug gangs could have been behind the dozens of blue barrels filled with powdered meth. Army Gen. Gilberto Hernandez Andreu said the meth was ready for packaging. There was no information on where the drugs were headed.

Jalisco has long been considered the hub of Sinaloa's meth production and trafficking. Meth use is growing in the United States, already the world's biggest market for illicit drugs.

The haul could have supplied 13 million doses worth more than $4 billion on U.S. streets.

The Sinaloa cartel is equipped to produce and distribute drugs "for the global village," said Antonio Mazzitelli, the regional representative of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

"Such large-scale production could suggest an expansion ... into Latin American and Asian markets," Mazzitelli said of the find. But he also noted, "It may be a product that hasn't been able to be sold, and like any business, when the market is depressed, stockpiles build up."

"This could potentially put a huge dent in the supply chain in the U.S.," said Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne. "When we're taking this much out of the supply chain, it's a huge deal."

But that might not mean less meth in the United States. Law enforcement officials in California's Central Valley, a hub of the U.S. meth distribution network, say a cutoff in the Mexican supply could mean domestic super labs will increase production.

"This will be a big seizure and will most likely slow down distribution for a short period of time until manufacturing can continue," said Robert Penal, a meth expert and former commander of California's Fresno Methamphetamine Task Force. "However, when there is an interruption in supply it is not uncommon for domestic super labs in California to start up operations to fill the void until the supply from Mexico can be restored."

The Mexican army said troops received several anonymous tips and found the huge drug stash in the township of Tlajomulco de Zuniga, near the Jalisco state capital of Guadalajara. The army statement said, "The historic seizure [is] the most important in terms of quantity of methamphetamines [seized] at one time."

The previous biggest bust announced by the army came in June 2010, when soldiers found 3.4 tons of pure meth in three interconnected warehouses in the central state of Queretaro, along with hundreds of tons of chemicals used to make meth. A giant underground lab was also found in Sinaloa state.

Those other seizures were believed to be linked to the Sinaloa cartel.