The Mexican army has uncovered a 15-ton stash of methamphetamine worth $4 billion in the state of Jalisco. Soldiers found the “ice” haul in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, a suburb of Mexico’s second largest city, Guadalajara.
The seizure was equal to half the total meth seizures worldwide in 2009, according to the most recent data available. It is also four times the size of one 3.4-ton yield that made global news last summer.
Methamphetamine production is rising in Mexico. Currently most of the meth sold in the U.S. is sourced south of the border, according to government sources.
The increase in meth production is due to efforts by the Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, whom the U.S. Treasury Department identifies as the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.
The Sinaloa Cartel already enjoys close ties with the U.S., but it reportedly aims to spread production of methamphetamine into the mountains of Guatemala. An alliance with Guatemalan traffickers now threatens to make the Central American nation a base for international meth production.