Mexico sells drug loot online
A crackdown on criminals can translate into cash for the Mexican government when items that qualify are auctioned off.
Mexico is the first government to use eBay technology to take bids on some of property seized from bad guys, tax cheats, drug traffickers and money launderers.
Cars are the most plentiful and popular items, and there’s a wide range of models available.
“The most expensive has to be a 911 Porche, I guess,” said Francisco Farfan, a spokesman for SAE, Mexico’s federal agency charged with disposing the seized property. “We sold a couple of X-Type Jaguars; S-Types as well.”
Some vehicles come complete with the normal wear and tear of the drug trade: bullet holes.
Others in the inventory feature bulletproof armor (although the government has now stopped selling those to the public).
Bidders must register online at the agency’s Spanish-language Web site. A Mexican tax identification number is also required, but foreigners are not barred from making purchases.
“We sold an airplane and it was bought by an English person,” Farfan said.
More: wfaa.com
Mexico charges seven cops with kidnapping
Mexican prosecutors announced Thursday they have filed kidnapping and organize crime charges against seven police officers accused of protecting hit men working for the feared Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel.
The men served in the police department in Ensenada, a tourist town 75 kilometers (45 miles) south of the California border, and they allegedly kidnapped people involved in the drug trade and held them for ransom, the Attorney General's Office said in a press statement.
They also protected members of the "Black Commando," a group of hit men working for the Arellano Felix cartel, authorities said.
They are
County drug squad helps bust Mexico-Atlanta drug group
Undercover Fayette County drug agents played a role in a months-long investigation of a Mexican drug trafficking operation that netted 28 arrests Wednesday, authorities said.
The multi-state investigation also netted about 592 kilograms of cocaine, more than 40 pounds of methamphetamine and $8 million in cash, officials said. Multiple weapons and more than $1 million in cash was recovered in the metro Atlanta area alone.
The sting, called “Operation Long Whine,†also resulted in about two pounds of crystal methamphetamine — often referred to as “ice†— and the lab which was used
Mexico extradites drug lord suspect
Alleged drug kingpin Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix was extradited to the United States on Saturday to face drug charges, becoming the first major Mexican drug lord suspect to be sent north for trial.
Mexicos extradition of the man who is suspected of having once run the Arellano Félix drug clan was a victory for U.S. officials, who have been pushing Mexico to send them more drug lords.
Arellano Félix was loaded into a helicopter in Matamoros, then flown across the border and handed over to Texas officials in Brownsville after serving a 10-year sentence in Mexico. He will
Collaborator of Mexico Drug Lord Sentenced
An alleged cohort of imprisoned drug lord Osiel Cardenas was sentenced Thursday to 44 years in prison on drug-related charges, authorities said.
Adan Javier Medrano was convicted of smuggling drug money from the United States into Mexico and distributing cocaine north of the border, the federal Attorney Generals Office said in a news release.
Medrano served as a gunman for Cardenas Gulf Cartel, which moved tons of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S., and was in charge of drug-related activites in Chiapas state and Guatemala, the release said.
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Vinci sells stake in Mexico's SETA airport operator for nearly 38 mln usd
Vinci said it has sold its holding in Mexican airport operator SETA to Mexico's ICA for just under 38 mln usd, completing the French company's withdrawal from the country's airport sector.
SETA operated 13 airports in North and central Mexico, including Monterrey airport.
In April 2004, Vinci sold the indirect holding it had in the airports of southern Mexico for around 30 mln usd.
Soure: forbes.com
Mexico officers wary of crossing drug cartels
On the front lines of the drug cartel wars, feigned ignorance can be bliss.
In an environment in which speaking too boldly against drug traffickers can prove deadly — an outspoken police chief was killed here in June only hours after taking office — local authorities prefer to lower their voices.
So it's not surprising that officers for Tamaulipas state and this border city had mixed feelings about legislation submitted to Mexico's Congress last week designed to give them more authority in the fight against "narcos."
One of the proposals would allow them to
Mexicos Urbi sells $150 mln in 10-yr bonds
Mexican homebuilder Urbi (URBI.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it has placed $150 million in 10-year senior bonds in the U.S. market.
Urbi, one of Mexicos largest house construction firms, said it planned to use proceeds from the 8.5 percent, 2016 maturing bond to refinance debt and fund other corporate activities.
The bonds, offered to institutional investors in the United States and other countries, have been rated BB by Standard and Poors and Fitch ratings and BA3 by Moodys.
More: today.reuters.com
Mexico captures leader of bloody drug gang
Mexico has captured the leader of a drug cartel that has waged a bloody turf war near the U.S. border, the government said on Monday.
Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said the arrest of Ricardo Garcia Urquiza, a surgeon known as "The Doctor," was a mortal blow to the Juarez cartel, a loose affiliation of drug gangs from the western state of Sinaloa prone to bloody feuding.
"This drug trafficker is probably one of the most important to be arrested in history," Cabeza de Vaca said. "Not only are we detaining an important drug
Mexico to Let Police Pursue Drug Smugglers
Mexico changed its constitution on Monday to allow state and local police to pursue drug traffickers, removing a major stumbling block in anti-drug efforts that had long been the exclusive realm of federal officers.
The measure is part of a package of bills that includes the possibility of using millions of dollars in seized drug money to fund rewards for the capture of traffickers; the blocking of cell phone calls from inside prisons and the registration of bulletproof cars frequently used by drug traffickers.
``We are multiplying our power in an extraordinary way,'' Eduardo
Pulte Homes Sells Mexico Operations
Pulte Homes, Inc., based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., has sold its Mexico homebuilding operation to a group of investors led by affiliates of Walton Street Capital, a Chicago based real estate investment company, and advised by Banc of America Securities and Hipotecaria Su Casita, Mexico’s largest independent Sofol.
Pulte Mexico, which began operations in 1994, was on track to deliver more than 7, 000 homes in 2005. As a result of this transaction, Pulte’s Mexico homebuilding operation will be reported as Discontinued Operations effective with the Company’s fourth quarter 2005 financial results.
Soure: home.nestor.minsk.by
