Mexican soldiers have started burning a five-hectare poppy field suspected of belonging to a drug cartel that was found in a mountainous region during a patrol.
The field was found in an area known as ‘Triangulo Dorado’ (‘Golden Triangle’), a mountainous region on the border of three Mexican states, Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Durango.a
Reports said that the Mexican army found the five-hectare field while patrolling the hard-to-reach area.
Army spokesperson Francisco Javier Olivas told local media: “This field is the biggest found under the current administration and we discovered it while patrolling the area.”
According to the Mexican Army, the harvest could produce 55 kilogrammes (121 lbs) of opium gum with a value of around 2.1 million MXN (83,000 GBP).
The Mexican army said that they will secure the area and burn all the crops, requiring between two and three days.
The military suspects that the field belonged to South Pacific Cartel, but they are unable to confirm it as the harvest was abandoned before it was found, according to reports.
Soldier Victor Zarate told local media: “We cannot specify which cartel it belongs to, but we know that it belongs to a criminal gang as they are the only ones who plant this kind of crop here.”
The army will reportedly continue looking for more crops in the area once they have dismantled this one.
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Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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