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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2008 
Mexico Makes Marijuana, Gun Bust
 Jessica Bernstein-Wax - Associated Press
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| | Mexican army soldiers train to combat drug smuggling during an exercise drill at a military base in Mexico City, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of soldiers into states throughout Mexico in the past year to combat drug gangs battling for territory and for control over corrupt local police forces. (AP/Marco Ugarte | | |
Mexico City - Mexican soldiers seized nearly 10 tons of marijuana, a machine gun, scores of assault rifles and three grenades in a raid Thursday just across the border from Texas, the military said.
Soldiers stopped a fleeing minivan and searched a nearby building outside the city of Miguel Aleman, across from Roma, Texas. Inside, they found the marijuana, 89 assault rifles, more than 80,000 rounds of ammunition and a host of other weapons, a Mexican Defense Department statement said.
Five men, from ages 28 to 62, were arrested, according to the statement.
The seizure follows weeks of bloody confrontation between federal agents and gunmen suspected of working for powerful drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Since taking office in December 2006, President Felipe Calderon has used the military to battle drug trafficking, sending more than 24,000 soldiers and federal agents into drug strongholds across the country.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, who is meeting with top officials in Mexico this week, warned that using the army to combat domestic crime for long periods of time is inappropriate and can be dangerous.
Calderon insists the increased military presence is only a stop-gap measure until local police are better-trained and corrupt officers fired. He says federal agents and soldiers have helped to make enormous drug busts and arrest some 15,000 organized crime suspects.
Many security experts criticize the crackdown, saying it has in fact increased drug-related violence in some states. |
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