In what is being hailed as the biggest haul of drug money ever, police have confiscated US$206 million ($295 million) from a massive criminal gang stretching from China and India into Central and North America.
Police found the cash inside dozens of suitcases, filing cabinets and cupboards in
a house in one of Mexico City's most exclusive neighbourhoods during a raid on Friday.
They were up until well past midnight counting wads of $100 bills. Weighing more than two tonnes, the money was taken from the scene in a van guarded by 25 police vehicles.
The Mexican authorities told reporters the cash had been amassed by one of the world's biggest networks dedicated to trafficking pseudoephedrine - a key chemical in the manufacture of methamphetamines.
Mexican police said the largest previous haul in Mexico was US$7 million found in the capital's airport in 2005. It was hidden inside electrical appliances bound for Colombia.
During the bust, police also seized €200,000 ($381,000), eight luxury vehicles, eight guns and a machine to make pills. They arrested seven people, but not the alleged head of the group, a nationalised Mexican of Chinese origin.
- OBSERVER
