Gypsy Jan - 11-8-2012 at 07:52 PM
From The San Diego Union Tribune
By Sandra Dibble
TIJUANA - "An explosion and fire at a house in eastern Tijuana has led to the seizure of an estimated $2 million in U.S. currency and dozens of
packages of marijuana.
Two adult suspects who suffered severe burns in the Tuesday night incident remained under guard at a hospital, according to a statement Wednesday by
Tijuana municipal police.
Five minors inside the residence at the time were unharmed, said Gen. Gilberto Landeros, commander of Baja California's Second Military Zone.
"The assumption is that the money comes from some kind of operation linked to organized crime," said Alberto Capella, Tijuana's public safety
secretary, who called the seizure "historic" for the municipal police department.
Baja California's Public Safety Secretariat reported that one of the suspects was the niece of Raydel López Uriarte, known as "El Muletas", a drug
trafficker connected to the Sinaloa cartel who was captured in February 2010 in Baja California Sur.
Tijuana municipal police discovered the cash inside a vehicle with a double-bottom on the premises after city firefighters were called to the scene to
put out the fire.
Capella said that by noon, authorities had counted $1.8 million, but that the total could reach close to $2 million. The exact quantity of marijuana
found on the premises was not known yesterday, Capella said in the statement. The cash and drugs were immediately turned over to Mexico's federal
Attorney General's Office to ensure transparency in the counting, he said.
The statement did not clarify the cause of the explosion and fire.
A series of large seizures of U.S. currency in Baja California in recent years have been linked to criminal organizations operating in the area. Drug
traffickers use cash generated by U.S. drug sales to puchase weapons and pay operating costs. This week's seizure comes nearly a year after
authorities confiscated $15.3 million in Tijuana said to belong to the Sinaloa cartel."
Juan Manrique Olmos of Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias contributed