The Mexican government on Wednesday arrested nearly 200 people for illegally smuggling over $10 million in cash and drugs into the country from Colombia and Peru.
The drug haul was the largest in Mexico since the beginning of the year, when authorities seized nearly 200 million pesos ($2.4 million) in cash, as well as 1.1 million peso ($400,000) in drugs.
The suspects were found hiding in various places, including a home in the southern city of San Cristobal, according to the national police.
The police identified the suspects as Miguel Ángel Echeverria, 38, of the town of La Esperanza, and Jose Álvarez Paredes, 43, of a small town in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico’s national police said in a statement.
They were taken to the regional police headquarters in Jalisco.
Paredis is from the state’s state of San Miguel.
They had allegedly purchased the drugs from the town’s residents.
Authorities also arrested four people from the area, including Paredas son, Jose Luis Paredos, 39, of San Carlos, the statement said.
He is being held in a separate case.
Mexico is on edge following the deadly attacks in the United States and Europe.
President Enrique Peña Nieto has vowed to bring down drug trafficking, which he says is the main source of Mexico’s $2 trillion annual economic output.
El Salvador’s president on Wednesday said that he had ordered the closure of more than 400 businesses owned by suspected drug dealers.
The government said in March that it would shut more than 200 businesses.
