Mexican Army Discovers First Coca Field

9/11/2014

Republished from TelesurTV

Mexican Army Finds First Coca Field

The plants were hidden among banana trees to avoid detection.

Mexican soldiers destroyed more than 1,000 coca plants after discovering the first coca plantation in Mexico, the army announced on Tuesday. 

“It’s the first plantation of this type found in Mexico. As you know, the coca leaf usually grows in the Andean region, at about 3,900 ft. above sea level,” said Sergio Ernesto Martínez, commander of the 36th Military Zone based in Tapachula, Chiapas.

The coca plantation was found in the state of Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala. 

The plants were planted among banana trees and other types of native flora, in order to prevent their detection from above. 

Prior to the coca field finding, the Mexican army seized about 180 kilos of cocaine and six plants of coca in Tapachula, Chiapas. 

The find raises questions about if local drug cartels are starting to expand their usual operations. 

Although Mexican criminal organizations produce marijuana and synthetic drugs that they then sell in the United States and Europe, the cocaine that the local drug cartels trade is bought in South America. 

Peru, along with Colombia, is the biggest cocaine producer, according to a 2012 United Nations (UN) study. 

There are about 149,251 acres of coca fields in Peru, while Colombia has about 118,610, said the UN. 

Coca however is used by many people in South America as a stimulant, and does not have the same properties as its processed form, cocaine.

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