Mexico: Thousands of Tequila Bottles Filled With Liquid Meth Intercepted at Port

The Mexican Navy has intercepted thousands of tequila bottles that contained nearly 10 tons of concentrated liquid meth at the Pacific coast seaport of Manzanillo in Mexico's state of Colima.

The Navy said Monday that Mexican Navy inspectors discovered the suspicious shipment on Sunday. The shipment reportedly contained 11,520 tequila bottles with approximately 8,640 kilograms or about 19,000 pounds of meth inside.

According to the Associated Press, a sniffer dog alerted the Navy inspectors to several cardboard boxes containing the bottles of meth. The liquid inside was browning in color and looked like "añejo" or aged tequila, though the labels on these bottles were not visible.

The AP tried to reach out to Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council, a trade and certification group but has yet to respond. It is still unclear whether an incident like this has happened before.

Liquid Meth as Tequila in Mexico

The Guardian reported that Mexico is the world's only producer of authentic tequila. However, the alcoholic drink used as cover for drug smuggling could be concerning as ingesting liquid meth could be very dangerous should it be mistaken for tequila.

Meth is usually exported in liquid, so it could easily cross the border. Drug smugglers frequently stopped at the border with liquid meth in their windshield washer fluid or other containers in their vehicles.

Once it is through the border, liquid meth is usually recovered by the smugglers and taken to specialized facilities. From there, it is returned to its usual crystal meth form after all the water is extracted.

Manzanillo Port in Mexico Is Where Fentanyl Usually Goes Through

The port city of Manzanillo is usually known for its sandy beaches but now lives in the shadows of operations from Mexico's drug cartels. According to the BBC, it has since become the primary source of violence in the state of Colima.

The port city is now on the frontline in the fight against fentanyl, as the city is where a lot of the cargo coming from Asia comes through. That is where the chemicals used as ingredients for fentanyl come in from China and India and into Mexico.

The two biggest and most violent drug cartels in Mexico, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel, are vying for dominance in Colima, and it has gotten so dire in the port city that Mexico has placed the Navy in charge of Manzanillo.

The Navy has since placed a sophisticated system of checks in Manzanillo to monitor everyone working there, especially those trading in chemicals.

However, finding out which businesses use these chemicals for legitimate reasons and which are using them to make fentanyl is much harder and more challenging.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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