The Mexican Navy has seized three large shipments of cocaine off the Pacific coast of southern Mexico in recent days, including numerous packages emblazoned with the Batman logo.
The Ministry of the Navy (SEMAR) announced in a statement on Tuesday that personnel based in Acapulco, Guerrero, had recently confiscated “approximately 2,939 kilograms of white powder with characteristics of cocaine” and detained “five alleged lawbreakers.”
SEMAR didn’t mention that any of the packages of the apparent cocaine had Batman logos on them, but the newspaper Reforma reported that was the case and published a photo showing dozens of rectangular “bricks” to which the superhero’s silhouette was affixed.
In its headline, Reforma described the confiscated narcotics as a “baticargamento,” or bat-shipment. The word is a play on Batimóvil, as the Batmobile is known in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
SEMAR said that the almost three tonnes of cocaine were seized in two different operations.
Navy personnel on a Defender-class boat first found numerous “black sacks” floating in the ocean approximately 61 nautical miles or 113 kilometers southeast of Acapulco, the ministry said.
The sacks, which were tied together, contained approximately 1,610 kilograms of “white powder with characteristics of cocaine.”
Navy personnel aboard a different vessel subsequently located two boats that were tied together and carrying packages of apparent cocaine weighing 1,329 kilograms as well as 16 cans of fuel. The five people who were arrested were aboard those boats.
The suspects were taken to land and turned over to the Federal Attorney General’s Office, SEMAR said.
The navy also announced that it had confiscated just under one tonne (999.86 kilograms) of cocaine from a boat located off the coast of Lázaro Cárdenas, a Pacific coast port city in Michoacán. It didn’t report any arrests in connection with that seizure.
Drug busts off Mexico’s Pacific coast occur regularly. Late last month, the navy seized a shipment of cocaine weighing more than 670 kilograms off the coast of Oaxaca.
In 2023, the navy seized a record-high 48.1 tonnes of cocaine, as well as large quantities of other drugs.
With reports from Reforma
