MEXICO CITY -- In the largest cash seizure in Mexican history, authorities confiscated $206 million in U.S. currency from a band of methamphetamine producers headquartered in a ritzy neighborhood here, officials said today.
Two of the seven people arrested at the home were Chinese, and authorities said the bust hinted at the vast scope of an illegal drug trade that links Mexico to Asia.
Authorities said the arrests came after an investigation that began in December, when authorities seized 20 tons of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the production of methamphetamines, at the Mexican Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations have become increasing important in the wholesale and retail trade in methamphetamines in the United States because American authorities have placed tougher controls on the sale of the chemicals used to produce the highly addictive drug.
Mexico's attorney general's office said the December seizure in Lazaro Cardenas led authorities to a chemical company, Unimed Pharm Chem, based in the city of Toluca, about 50 miles west of Mexico City.
"The resulting investigation showed that this company illegally imported pseudoephedrine acetate from India," the attorney general's office said in a statement. "These chemicals are used to illegally produce methamphetamines."
Mexican police raided the home Thursday in Lomas de Chapultepec, a neighborhood home to some of this city's wealthiest residents and to many members of the diplomatic corps.
Officials said they worked past midnight to count the bills, which were hidden inside walls, suitcases and closets.
The cash seized was mostly in U.S. $100 bills and weighed at least 4,500 pounds. It was five times the amount seized in all of 2006 by Mexican authorities in anti-narcotic and money laundering operations.
Two of the seven people arrested at the home were Chinese, and authorities said the bust hinted at the vast scope of an illegal drug trade that links Mexico to Asia.
Authorities said the arrests came after an investigation that began in December, when authorities seized 20 tons of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the production of methamphetamines, at the Mexican Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations have become increasing important in the wholesale and retail trade in methamphetamines in the United States because American authorities have placed tougher controls on the sale of the chemicals used to produce the highly addictive drug.
Mexico's attorney general's office said the December seizure in Lazaro Cardenas led authorities to a chemical company, Unimed Pharm Chem, based in the city of Toluca, about 50 miles west of Mexico City.
"The resulting investigation showed that this company illegally imported pseudoephedrine acetate from India," the attorney general's office said in a statement. "These chemicals are used to illegally produce methamphetamines."
Mexican police raided the home Thursday in Lomas de Chapultepec, a neighborhood home to some of this city's wealthiest residents and to many members of the diplomatic corps.
Officials said they worked past midnight to count the bills, which were hidden inside walls, suitcases and closets.
The cash seized was mostly in U.S. $100 bills and weighed at least 4,500 pounds. It was five times the amount seized in all of 2006 by Mexican authorities in anti-narcotic and money laundering operations.
