Mexican security forces seize huge drugs haul

Mexican security forces seized at least 105 tons of US-bound marijuana in the border city of Tijuana, by far the biggest pot bust in the country in recent years.

Soldiers and police grabbed the drugs in pre-dawn raids in three neighbourhoods after police arrested 11 people following a shootout, army General Alfonso Duarte Mujica said at a news conference.

The marijuana was found wrapped in 10,000 packages, which were displayed to journalists by soldiers in masks.

Gen Duarte said the drug had an estimated street value in Mexico of 4.2bn pesos, about €244m.

Gen Duarte said authorities were still counting and weighing the packages and the amount could increase. He said the drugs – wrapped in different colours and labelled with apparently coded phrases and pictures that included Homer Simpson - would be incinerated immediately after the weighing and counting is completed.

The bust began when Tijuana municipal police on patrol came under fire from gunmen in a convoy of vehicles, Gen Duarte said. One police officer and one suspect were injured.

Police arrested 11 people who were travelling in the convoy and called the army and state police for reinforcements, Gen Duarte said.

He said the detainees led the security forces to three different neighbourhoods in the city, which is across the border from San Diego, California. The drugs were found stored in tractor trailers and houses.

Gen Duarte said local criminal gangs were gathering the drugs to smuggle into the United States.

He did not identify any of the gangs or say where the marijuana originated.