Mexican soldiers found a large marijuana field in a desert and uninhabited area in the northern part of the country, a field said to be the largest discovered in the nation’s history.
Mexican soldiers found a large marijuana field in a desert and uninhabited area in the northern part of the country, a field said to be the largest discovered in the nation’s history.
Soldiers were patrolling the area, around 120 hectares, where marijuana plants more than two meters tall were found hidden among tomato plants.
The field, located in the state of Baja California, on the border with the United States, would have produced around 120 tons of marijuana, worth 160 million dollars, said Gen. Alfonso Duarte, in charge of the operation.
The majority of the men who were caring for the plants, drawing water from subterranean wells to irrigate them, could not be detained. Only six of them were arrested at a military roadblock.
Mexico is the chief supplier of marijuana to the United States, and the majority of the cocaine this country consumes passes through its neighbor.
Since taking office in December 2006, President Felipe Calderón has maintained a campaign against the drug cartels, deploying Army and federal police personnel in different areas of the country.
Since then, violence has increased without interruption and left more than forty thousand dead as a consequence of clashes among the cartels or between the cartels and security forces.