Mexican marines working customs duty said Wednesday they found a shipping container loaded with 7,200 bottles of a clear liquid labeled mezcal but that actually contained liquid methamphetamine.
The massive meth shipment was found on a Liberian-flagged vessel at the Pacific coast port of Manzanillo. The container was destined for Australia, according to shipping documents.
The marines said the shipment contained 9.5 tons of liquid meth, though the dry weight of the drugs would have been considerably less.
The bottles bore the Mezcal Social brand name and were marked “as artisanal mezcal,” an alcoholic beverage made from distilled agave.
So far this year, Mexican marines have seized over 124 tons of meth nationwide.
It would not be the first time that Mexican cartels, which dominate the international trade in meth, have tried to smuggle the drugs to Australia or in liquid form.
In 2022, officials in Hong Kong seized about $5.9 million worth of crystal meth concealed in a shipment of electrical transformers that was bound for Australia from Mexico.
Days later, they reported finding 1.8 metric tons (2 tons) of liquid methamphetamine stored in bottles labeled coconut water that arrived from Mexico by sea. The haul, estimated to be worth 1.1 billion ($140 million), was Hong Kong’s largest meth seizure.
