Opium gum worth $12 mn seized in Mexico

Mexico City, Jan 22 (IANS/EFE) Around 245 kg of opium gum worth over $12 million has been seized by the Mexican Army in the country’s largest-ever seizure of the substance, officials said.

The operation was carried out in Chilpancingo, capital of the southern state of Guerrero, the defence secretariat said.

The seized substance has a street value of 148.2 million pesos ($12.1 million) and could have been processed to make 612,500 doses of heroin.

The army, however, did not indicate when the seizure was made nor how it learned of the consignment.

More than 34,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006.

–IANS/EFE