Foreign national caught with over a million pesos of ketamine in Cancún airport

Mexican authorities arrested a foreign national in the Cancún International Airport on Tuesday after 1.2 million pesos worth of ketamine was found in his luggage.

According to the government’s monthly National Security Strategy report, the National Guard took a man into custody after a customs luggage scan found the substance concealed inside plastic bottles. 

Ketamine, a psychotropic substance, is legal in Mexico for medicinal purposes if prescribed by a physician, but it is considered a controlled substance and illegal possession carries a four- to seven-year sentence.

The suspect, who appears to be in his mid-30s, had not been identified, nor had his nationality been made public as of Thursday, according to the newspaper Riviera Maya News. The authorities also declined to reveal the origin of the flight on which the man arrived in Cancún.

Official reports indicate 2 kilograms of ketamine were confiscated.

Other recent drug seizures in Mexico

The National Security Strategy report shared details of several other recent drug busts. They include:

  • A joint operation carried out by the Defense Ministry, the National Guard and the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) in Chihuahua netted the arrest of three men found in possession of weapons, cartridges and 950 grams of methamphetamine.
  • Marines raided a residence in the Gustavo  A. Madero borough of Mexico City and apprehended three men, while also seizing weapons and drugs.
  • The Naval Ministry seized nearly 560 kilos of cocaine and 685 liters of contraband fuel off the coast of Oaxaca.
  • Operations in the states of Jalisco, Michoacán, Sonora and Sinaloa resulted in 11 total arrests and the seizure of three long guns, 180 cartridges, three chargers, 18 IEDs (improvised explosive devices), three illegal slot machines, four vehicles and more than 120 kilos of methamphetamine.

With reports from Milenio, Infobae and Riviera Maya News

1 COMMENT

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Luis Ángel Robles Morales

500 Chihuahua farmers are benefitting from a 20-year-old Tec student’s prize-winning filtration invention

0
Luis Ángel Robles Morales, an engineering student from a farming family, was honored with a 2026 Garza Sada Award for his water-use-extending filtration system, which has already proved its worth where it counts: out in the fields.
students in classroom

Latest PISA survey reveals 4 in 10 Mexican students do not meet basic level in science, math and reading

0
The 41.8% of Mexican students aged 15 who scored below the basic level in the science/math/reading triad was more than double the 19.7% average of all countries in the OECD.
cryptomining farm in Puebla

Authorities seize 300 computers from cryptomining farm siphoning power from Puebla grid

0
Authorities discovered the clandestine facility in Tlaola, a municipality in northern Puebla near the Nuevo Necaxa Dam — the second such bust in a year connected to this power source.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity