Members of the Mexican Navy and the National Guard secured and destroyed over 50 plantations of poppy and marihuana all throughout the country, including Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango and Guerrero.
According to a statement from Mexico's Security Council, 28 opium poppy plantations and 26 marijuana fields were distributed across three hectares in the four states.
Apart from the destruction of the crops, authorities confirmed that two people that were being held against their will since Dec. 7 were released in the city of Mazatlán.
In the state of Sinaloa alone, authorities conducted five different operations that led to the arrests of alleged criminals as well as the seizure of 6,000 liters of chemical precursors and nine tons of solid materials used to produce opioids.
In one of those operations, authorities seized 10 kilos of methamphetamines in the municipality of Cosalá.
The latest blow against Mexican cartels took place on Dec. 26, when members of the Navy arrested an Italian tourist that was trying to flee to Europe with a cargo of 6 kilos of cocaine hidden inside his luggage.
Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación's enterprise also targeted during special operations
Prior to the Christmas Day operations, Navy personnel destroyed an additional 15 marijuana plantations located in the municipalities of Ixtlán del Río and Santa María del Oro, both located in the state of Nayarit and a stronghold for the CJNG.
Authorities said the crops belonged to the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación who have a strong presence in the Pacific coastline. They said the drugs were being cultivated in a field of approximately 2.5 hectares that contained more than half a million marijuana plants weighing more than 166 tons.
The financial hit taken by the CJNG is estimated to be at around 254 million pesos, or $12.5 million, as the drug seized by authorities was enough to produce 400,000 doses.
Mexico is among the top producers of synthetic drugs
According to a 2023 report by the United Nations, Mexico is one of the world's top producers of synthetic drugs and opioids along with Afghanistan, Myanmar and Syria.
As Mexican drug trafficking cartels continue to produce large amounts of illicit drugs, officials have beefed up their efforts in order to stop their enterprises.
Between 2019 and 2023, the Mexican government said that marijuana, cocaine, fentanyl and heroine were among the top drugs seized by authorities during that period, only surpassed by methamphetamines. Last year, authorities seized a record 271,000 tons of illicit drugs as well as locating more than 2,000 clandestine drug laboratories, the majority of them located in western, northern and central Mexico.
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