MEXICAN POLICE SEIZE 4-TON MARIJUANA SHIPMENT

MEXICO CITY (November 23, 1998 11:33 p.m. EST) Mexican police Monday seized
nearly four metric tons of marijuana after searching a truck with federal
government license plates, prosecutors said.

The Attorney General's Office (PGR) in northwestern Sinaloa state said a
suspected drug trafficker was arrested after the seizure of 950 packets of
marijuana weighing 3.95 metric tons near the Pacific coast resort of
Mazatlan.

"It's worth mentioning that this is the second biggest seizure of cannabis
by prosecutors in this state so far this year," the PGR said in a statement.

Sinaloa is one of the heartlands of Mexico's drug underworld and the
birthplace of many of its most famous capos. A shrine in the state capital
of Culiacan is dedicated to a turn-of-the-century Robin Hood figure, Jesus
Malverde, revered by drug lords as well as small-time thieves.

The state is also a major marijuana producer and transshipment point for
other narcotics heading north to Mexico's 2,000-mile land border with the
United States.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst