$206 Million In Cash Seized In Mexico

[James]

god damn....i know they must have been mad as hell, wonder how they got caught?

Stack of cash
click to enlargeMEXICO CITY -- In the largest cash seizure in Mexican history, authorities confiscated $206 million in U.S. currency from a band of methamphetamine producers headquartered in a ritzy neighborhood here, officials said today.

Two of the seven people arrested at the home were Chinese, and authorities said the bust hinted at the vast scope of an illegal drug trade that links Mexico to Asia.

Authorities said the arrests came after an investigation that began in December, when authorities seized 20 tons of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the production of methamphetamines, at the Mexican Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations have become increasing important in the wholesale and retail trade in methamphetamines in the United States because American authorities have placed tougher controls on the sale of the chemicals used to produce the highly addictive drug.

Mexico's attorney general's office said the December seizure in Lazaro Cardenas led authorities to a chemical company, Unimed Pharm Chem, based in the city of Toluca, about 50 miles west of Mexico City.

"The resulting investigation showed that this company illegally imported pseudoephedrine acetate from India," the attorney general's office said in a statement. "These chemicals are used to illegally produce methamphetamines."

Mexican police raided the home Thursday in Lomas de Chapultepec, a neighborhood home to some of this city's wealthiest residents and to many members of the diplomatic corps.

Officials said they worked past midnight to count the bills, which were hidden inside walls, suitcases and closets.

The cash seized was mostly in U.S. $100 bills and weighed at least 4,500 pounds. It was five times the amount seized in all of 2006 by Mexican authorities in anti-narcotic and money laundering operations.

 

[Mandingo]

I guess somebody didn't give enough to the local police force.

 

[crazedcav333]

Wow that's a lot of money. I bet that ruined their day.

 

[cdt]

I'd never have that much tied up in one area..morons..I'd have it buried and stashed all over the place.

 

[James]

I was thinking the same thing, but what if that was like just one of many stash houses...

 

[Mac]

Man, if I was a cop, I can guarantee you there would be a couple stacks floating around my uniform somehow.

Misplaced..

 

[RuanuLaw]

Well, somebody pissed off somebody in Washington.

 

[Style]

I guess these guys never heard of banks.

 

[James]

^ Putting it in a Bank would be even more suspisous, there is no easy way to launder that much cash, thats usually the downfall of tons of drug rings, they have to much and cant get rid of it.

 

[Nicky]

Obviously they have never seen the Soprano's.... All they had to do was give the bank $9,999 per account. Although that would take A LOT of accounts.

 

[Mac]

Doesnt quiet work that way...

What they could have done was set up various business's to try to wash the money, but even that couldnt wash that kind of money. A last resort would be off shore accounts, but even those get tricky.

So there best bet would be to stash it in different areas, under the ground, different houses, storage places, buy a saftey deposit at a bank etc..

 

[Style]

So what you're saying is, putting it all in one spot, next to some file cabinets in the basement, isn't a good idea????

 

[James]

Laundering the money is half the battle, finding someone who is willing to risk there freedom in order to launder money for you is a whole different ball game, if any of you know that guy Jacob The Jewler, he is going to go to jail for quite some time for laundering money for BMF (Black Mafia Family.) Most of the time, what they do, is they get that money, do real-estate type things, Construction, Property Flipping etc...etc.. stuff that looks legit, but in the end, all these guys have the same fate, either death, or jail for the rest of your life. Its a story that has been written tons of times, by people who were even bigger then these guys such as Rick Ross and Rayful Edmonds. The outcome is never good.

 

[Hurl Bruce]