Drug War: Mexico army seizes record cache of opiates

ContraCostaTimes: "The Mexican army said Wednesday that it has made a record seizure of opiates, about 3.6 metric tons of a dark liquid that contains heroin.

Experts said the liquid may be opium paste being processed into heroin.

A Mexican Defense Department press statement called it "the most important seizure of this drug in the history of the army and air force."

Authorities did not say how much heroin it would produce, but in general a kilogram of opium paste can yield about one-tenth as much of the drug.

The largest previous seizure of opiates was 245 kilograms (540 pounds) of opium paste found in Guerrero in January 2011. The Defense Department had said that seizure would have yielded over 600,000 doses of heroin." read more