A Mexican military commander said Thursday that his soldiers discovered a record-busting marijuana plantation 120 hectares (nearly 300 acres) large in the state of Baja California.

"It is the largest marijuana plantation in Mexican history," General Alfonso Duarte, the commander of the military region based in the far north-western border city of Tijuana, told AFP.

Duarte said the plantation can produce 120 tons of marijuana, which he valued at nearly $160 million.

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Den mexikanischen Behörden ist ein wichtiger Schlag gegen den Drogenhandel gelungen. In der Wüste nahe der US-Grenze stießen Soldaten auf ein riesiges Anbaugebiet für Marihuana. Die bis zu 2,5 Meter hohen Pflanzen hätten nach der Ernte mehr als 108 Millionen Euro eingebracht.

Soldaten haben in Mexiko die bisher größte Marihuana-Plantage in der Geschichte des Landes entdeckt. Über eine Fläche von knapp 120 Hektar erstreckt sich das Anbaugebiet im Bundesstaat Baja California an der Grenze zu den USA. Die Riesenplantage sei bereits am Dienstag gefunden worden, teilte das mexikanische Verteidigungsministerium am Donnerstag mit.

spiegel.de

Eight people have been arrested and more than two and a half million € in cash has been recovered in a National Police raid on two central ‘safe flats’ in Málaga. Another three homes were searched in the operation which also resulted in the seizure of 102 kilos of cocaine.

typicallyspanish.com

The Colombian navy has seized a submarine believed to have been built to smuggle cocaine to Mexico.

The 31m-long (100ft) fibreglass vessel was found hidden in a jungle area in Timbiqui, in south-western Colombia.

Navy officials said it was the most sophisticated submarine they had found so far, capable of travelling 9m (30ft) below water.

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aced with a poor education system and dismal job prospects, boys and girls as young as 11 are lured into acting as mules, peddlers, lookouts — even executioners — for drug cartels offering easy money.

wsbt.com

A recording leaked to the Mexican press features a senior leader of the La Familia drug cartel urging members to stand fast in the wake of the death of their figurehead and painting the criminal group as rebels with a cause.

"It had to happen one day so don't despair, this is not over," Servando Gómez Martinez, alias La Tuta, says of the death last week of the group's "spiritual leader", Nazario Moreno, also known as the Doctor. "We will stay united and we will achieve what the Doctor wanted and what he inculcated into us with so much love."

guardian.co.uk

Federal police hunted for top leaders of the La Familia drug cartel in a western Mexican state on Thursday, unleashing narco-blockades and shootouts that have left at least five people dead, including an 8-month-old baby.

Federal police believe that several La Familia members may have been killed, including one of its top leaders, said Alejandro Poire, government spokesman for security issues. He did not say who the leader may have been.

"The way the criminals have tried to protect themselves as they fled from our operations yesterday and today suggests that we have located and are closely pursuing high-level leaders of La Familia Michoacana," Poire said. "Similarly, preliminary unconfirmed information indicates that in their retreat, the organization has suffered significant causalities, including possibly the death of one of their leaders."

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The South American drug-smuggling business is becoming increasingly sophisticated as Colombian gangs use home-made submarines to get cocaine to Mexico. The crews have to put up with incredible heat, insanitary conditions and a lack of space. One former submersible captain told SPIEGEL about his experiences.

The day Gustavo Alonso's life as a drug courier ended began with the muffled roar of a helicopter. It was flying directly overhead, and Alonso could hear it approaching rapidly. Suddenly the helicopter came to a stop and began hovering in the air above.

Alonso, three other crew members and a guard from the Colombian drug mafia were crammed together in a space of about 15 square meters (161 square feet) in the hold of a semi-submersible 600 nautical miles off the Mexican coast. The vessel was also carrying 3.5 tons of cocaine, with a wholesale price of about $8 million (€6.1 million), worth more than $60 million on the streets of Miami or Washington.

spiegel.de