Monday, June 23, 2025

Got 1 min? Counterfeit cash stash seized after Mexico City arrests

Mexico City police have arrested two alleged members of a counterfeiting and drug trafficking ring, and seized around 200,000 pesos (US $11,600) in apparent fake cash.

The Mexico City Security Ministry (SSC) announced on Wednesday the arrest of a 35-year-old woman and a 66-year-old woman at an address in the Iztacalco borough of the capital for which police obtained a search warrant.

Suspected drugs and an unlicensed vehicle were found alongside the money, security services say. (Pablo Vázquez Camacho/X)

The women have been identified as Janeth “N” and María de Lourdes “N,” alleged members of a crime group that reportedly also includes Colombian nationals.

The SSC said in a statement that the arrests came after an investigation that identified “a criminal cell dedicated to the production and distribution of possibly counterfeit bills and the sale of narcotics.”

In addition to detaining the two women, police seized “109 doses and 15 packages of a green and dry herb similar to marijuana, five cell phones, a blue vehicle without license plates and 85 banknotes of different denominations that lack security seals and could be false,” the ministry said.

Security Minister Pablo Vázquez said on the X social media platform that the 85 “apparently false” bills added up to over 40,000 pesos.

In a separate statement on Thursday, the SSC said that police searched the property where the two women were arrested and found 159,200 pesos in “possibly fake bills” as well as US $300 in a drain.

Most of the likely bogus banknotes were old and new 500-peso bills. Photos also showed that a smaller number of apparently counterfeit 1,000-peso and 200-peso bills were also seized.

The detained suspects allegedly used fake money at street markets in Iztacalco, the Security Ministry said Wednesday. It also said the two women “are possibly related to other extortion events.”

With reports from Milenio and Debate 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Poverty rate in Mexico

Report: Mexico’s poverty reduction policies outperform all 37 OECD member countries

0
Government policies in Mexico helped reduce relative poverty by 3.9 percentage points from 2012 through 2021, whereas other member nations only saw poverty decline by one point in the same period.
Sheinbaum on Iran

Sheinbaum: ‘Mexico will always be a factor for peace’ after US-Iran escalation

1
President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday expressed opposition to war and called on the United Nations to lead a peacebuilding process after the United States military attacked three nuclear facilities in Iran.
An AI robot hand reaches out to touch a human hand

How do we make sure that AI doesn’t make us dumber? A perspective from our CEO

17
AI can make us smarter or it can make us lazier. CEO Travis Bembenek shares how Mexico News Daily is working to offer readers the good kind of AI.