Two airline passengers were arrested on Sunday for attempting to smuggle illicit drugs into Mexico via a nontraditional route.
The Mexico City International Airport (AICM) said on social media that two male passengers were detained at the airport after they arrived on flights from Paris, France, with drugs including cocaine in their checked baggage.
Ayer domingo, un pasajero de nacionalidad mexicana / española, fue puesto a disposición de las autoridades por arribar en un vuelo procedente de ParÃs, Francia, con 5.3 kgs de cocaÃna y MDMA, transportados en su equipaje documentado.
Otro pasajero, quien arribó en… pic.twitter.com/XwPIX6vVQV— @AICM_mx (@AICM_mx) July 15, 2024
One of the passengers was a dual Mexican and Spanish citizen who had 5.3 kilograms of cocaine and MDMA in his suitcase, AICM said.
The other passenger, whose nationality wasn’t disclosed, had 5 kilograms of cocaine and morphine in his baggage, the airport said.
Both men were photographed standing between two marines with their faces turned away from the camera.
“Now at AICM, the navy is close to you,” says a message on the wall the suspects were facing.
The navy has had complete control of the airport — Mexico’s busiest — since last year and has been in charge of security there since early 2022.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has relied heavily on the armed forces during his six-year term, using them for a wide range of non-traditional tasks including the management of airports, ports and customs and the construction of infrastructure projects.
The Mexico City airport said that the arrests of the two alleged drug smugglers on Sunday demonstrate the “commitment” of the Navy and AICM to “stop illegal actions at our airport in order to guarantee the safety of our passengers.”
More than 10 tonnes of illegal drugs were seized at AICM in 2022 and 2023. That figure included more than 9 tonnes of methamphetamine, over 300 kilograms of fentanyl and 172 kilograms of cocaine. Most of the drugs were presumably heading out of Mexico when they were detected.
Mexico News DailyÂ
If the Navy is going to be running airports, a name change might be appropriate.