MEXICO'S POLICE SEIZE 1.3 TONS OF COCAINE

Police in Mexico's Tamaulipas state have seized 1.3 tons of cocaine and more
than 7 tons of marijuana in recent weeks,state news agency Notimex reported
Sunday.

Notimex said police in the northern state of Tamaulipas,which borders the
U.S. state of Texas,had snatched 1,128 pounds of cocaine in a single
shipment at Matamoros, adjacent to Brownsville.

"Tamaulipas has been used by gangs of narcotics traffickers as a drug route
to the United States,"Notimex reported.

In recent years, Mexico has become a conduit for cocaine shipped by
Colombian drug cartels on its way to the lucrative U.S. market.Mexico is
also a producer of marijuana.

Rival drug gangs have been battling in Mexican cities on the U.S.
border,which in recent months have been the scene of frequent shootouts that
often kill innocent bystanders.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"