Mexico logs biggest meth lab raid under current admin

A view of a clandestine lab to process synthetic drugs seized by the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) in the municipality of Rancho Viejo, Sonora state, Mexico, in this handout distributed on February 12, 2024. Secretaria de Marina y Armada de Mexico (SEMAR)/Handout via REUTERS

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican armed forces said on Monday they had dismantled a clandestine meth “mega-laboratory” in northern Sonora state, marking the largest drug laboratory busted under the current administration.

“This is the largest laboratory we have secured during the current administration and represents more than 50% of the drugs and precursors seized this year,” Mexico’s navy said in a statement on X, alongside photos showing large containers and white sacks at the rural camp near Rancho Viejo.

A view of a clandestine lab to process synthetic drugs seized by the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) in the municipality of Rancho Viejo, Sonora state, Mexico, in this handout distributed on February 12, 2024. Secretaria de Marina y Armada de Mexico (SEMAR)/Handout via REUTERS

The navy said it had seized 4.13 metric tons (91,073 lb) of meth and 1.27 tons of precursor chemicals used to make the synthetic drug.

The site counted 72 laboratory reactors, it added, five times more than the 13 discovered at what was previously considered the country’s largest clandestine lab, which had also been discovered in Sonora.

The U.S. has been pushing Mexico to crack down on drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl, even as leaked documents revealed the Mexican army revised up the number of drug lab raids it said it had conducted under the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is in his final year of office.

A view of a clandestine lab to process synthetic drugs seized by the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) in the municipality of Rancho Viejo, Sonora state, Mexico, in this handout distributed on February 12, 2024. Secretaria de Marina y Armada de Mexico (SEMAR)/Handout via REUTERS

Mexico has meanwhile been pushing for the United States to take a firmer stance on the illicit trafficking of firearms from the United States to drug cartels across the border.

A view of a clandestine lab to process synthetic drugs seized by the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) in the municipality of Rancho Viejo, Sonora state, Mexico, in this handout distributed on February 12, 2024. Secretaria de Marina y Armada de Mexico (SEMAR)/Handout via REUTERS

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Raul Cortes; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Kylie Madry and Sandra Maler)