Tijuana Ten Tons of Marijuana

TIJUANA — News accounts Wednesday of the discovery of ten tons of marijuana inside an abandoned mechanic’s shop in eastern Tijuana had a surprising twist: The drugs had been confiscated before, they stated.

But hours later after reporters were called Tuesday to document the seizure carried by members of the Baja California State Preventive Police—the largest drug seizure so far this year in Tijuana—the agency’s top officer cautioned against jumping to any conclusions.

“It’s not up to us to say whether it had been confiscated or not,” said Marco Antonio Montoya. “That’s up to the PGR,” he said, using the initials of the Mexican attorney general’s office.

The commander’s statements put into question front-page headlines Wednesday in the city’s two main daily newspapers, El Mexicano and Frontera.

“Official sources confirmed to Frontera that all the drugs…found in the mechanic’s shop…already had been confiscated,” stated Frontera’s report. The rival El Mexicano newspaper described numbered packages with their weight marked on the outside.

The state agents who found the drugs on Tuesday were tipped off by an anonymous caller, Montoya said Wednesday. The marijuana was currently in the hands of the Mexican military, and the investigation would be carried out by the federal attorney general’s office, he said. Neither the military nor the attorney general's office commented on the seizure Wednesday.

 

Photo of one of the confiscated marijuana packets.

Despite grilling by members of the Tijuana press corps, Montoya remained firmly non-committal as to whether the drugs had been previously in the hands of a law enforcement agency: “I can’t confirm it, I can’t rule it out,” he said.