Anonymous - 3-28-2004 at 10:57 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20040324-9...
By Sandra Dibble
March 24, 2004
TIJUANA ? The head of the city's Tourism and Conventions Committee was behind bars yesterday, federal agents said, after they found 1,800 pills of
muscle relaxant inside his shop off Avenida Revolucion.
Julian Palombo Sauceda and an employee were arrested Sunday when agents searched Palombo's store, Mercado El Piri, and discovered 36 bottles of the
medication sold commercially as Somacid, agents said.
According to a news release from the Mexican federal attorney general's office, the medicine is a controlled substance and can be sold only with a
prescription. Palombo and an employee, F?lix Astorga Pe?a, were charged yesterday with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.
Palombo has been a well-known advocate for Tijuana's tourist industry for years. He is past president of an Avenida Revolucion area merchants group
and of the Association of Tijuana Tourist Businesses and in February was elected to head the city's Tourism and Conventions Committee.
Palombo's store sits amid the souvenir shops on Calle Primera, a strip used often by tourists walking from the border to the Avenida Revolucion
district. The shop was shuttered yesterday.
"This must certainly be an error by authorities," said Francisco Blake Rivera, vice president of the Association of Tourist Merchants, and owner of
Piscis curio shop on Avenida Revolucion. "He is someone who always wanted to work for the general interest of store owners. . . . Someone wanted to
hurt Julian's reputation, but we are not sure why."
Ignacio Romo, head of the Association of Pharmacies and Drugstores of Tijuana, said many shops in Tijuana have been selling the relaxant without a
prescription. Despite the federal edict, the state several years ago authorized its sale without prescription after lobbying from merchants, Romo
said, and now "there is confusion" about the rules.
Baja California Secretariat of Health officials could not be reached late yesterday for comment.
The search of Palombo's shop is one of a number of recent raids involving stores that sell pharmaceuticals. In December, Tijuana police arrested nine
people, including three U.S. citizens, after finding 12,000 pills being sold illegally without prescriptions at Farmacia Nueva York on Avenida
Revolucion.
In January, city police arrested four U.S. customers who had bought pills without prescriptions at Farmacia Speedy on Third Street. Two store
employees also were arrested.
Both stores remain open.