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Up in Smoke: Whose Pot Is It?

By Jeralyn

105 tons of marijuana seized in Mexico. (Lots more pictures below the fold.) The Mexican authorities at a press conference held by Brigadier General Staff commander of the Second Military Zone, Alfonso Duarte Mujica, said it began with a random observation by the Tijuana municipal police who noticed a convoy of vehicles accompanying a tractor trailer. A shootout ensued and they called for backup and the military and other law enforcement groups quickly arrived. They detained a bunch of people who took them to houses in three different poor neighborhoods of the city, and then they got to a warehouse where they located six tractor trailers loaded with the pot.

So whose pot was it? Apparently not the cartels'. Gen. Duarte Mujica says there are no more cartels in Baja and Tijuana. [More...]

According to Gen. Duarte Mujica two days ago, there are no cartels in Baja and Tijuana. There are only "cockroaches."

Maggie explains what the General meant:

[G]unmen from the mainland - groups of criminals whose operations have been dismantled by the Mexican Army and have fled from the states of Michoacan, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas and even from Ciudad Juarez who are anything but organized, are striking out and trying to establish themselves in this area. General Mujica calls this the "cockroach effect."(In other words, they scattered like a bunch of cockroaches)...

...As far as cartel operations in Baja, the General stated there are none, but there still are members of cartels who are loose and active in Baja.

Take a look at the group arrested and paraded before the media. They sure don't look like cartel members. They were probably going to be drivers of the tractor trailers you can see in the background of the last picture below.

Which means, they probably have no clue. That much marijuana would not be kept at any one location for any longer than necessary, usually 24 to 48 hours. The drivers may not even know each other, let alone anyone more involved. They are usually purposefully kept in the dark, so they can't pass on valuable information if there's a bust. Leaderless cells. Even if they know the destination, it won't be much help in identifying who owned the pot.

None of this will stop the U.S. media from claiming this is cartel pot and organized (versus disorganized) crime, and another reason not to pass Prop. 19.

I wonder if this guy was the driver of the tractor trailer? Did he get the black eye after refusing to tell them where the rig was headed? (Maybe not, but still curious.)

Was it grown in Mexico or elsewhere? Gen. Duarte Mujica couldn't say.

Still, 200,000 pounds of pot is a lot of marijuana. Gen. Duarte Mujica said it will be incinerated as soon as it's all accounted for and weighed. Up in smoke.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 19, 2010 (boomark / email).