MEXICO (NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06787448
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-02250
• Publication Date: January 23, 1975

Approved for Release: 2019/07/26 C06787448
USIB
uNHTED STATES
IN.TITLIGENCF
BOARD
National Intelligence
Bulletin
January 23, 1975
-N2 638
Approved for Release: 2019/07/26 C06787448
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National Intelligence Bulletin
January 23, 1975
CONTENTS
MEXICO: Authorities had major successes against narcotics
traffickers this month. (Page 15)
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NR Record
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National Intelligence Bulletin January 23, 1975
MEXICO
Mexican authorities have had major successes against
narcotics traffickers this month. From January 13 through
15 they seized 232 kilograms of raw opium gum, arrested
132 people--among them the head of a large network of
growers and traffickers--and destroyed one heroin labora-
tory. The raw opium seized could have been converted
into some 23 kilograms of pure heroin.
Roughly half of the opium was seized in highway in-
terdictions from Guadalajara northward. Much of it is
believed to have come from the southwestern states of
Guerrero and Michoacan, where recent campaigns against
the late Lucio Cabanas' guerrilla band had prevented
authorities from focusing their full attention on the
poppy growers.
A larger, more productive opium-growing area is
located in the northwestern states of Chihuahua. Sinaloa,
and Durango. last
spring and fall revealed almost 1,500 opium poppy fields
in a 750-square-mile mountainous area. It is almost
certain that many more fields exist in the countryside
surrounding the inspected area.
Mexico as a whole is the leading source of heroin
smuggled into the US. Roughly 60 to 70 percent of the
heroin seized or purchased clandestinely by narcotics
agents in the US last year was of Mexican origin.
Large-scale seizures and arrests like last week's
have not been the rule for Mexican authorities. Statis-
tics in recent years show that arrests, drug seizures,
and the amount of opium and marijuana crops destroyed
in Mexico are up, but large quantities of drugs are
still entering the US through sections of the border
that are not patrolled.]
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National Intelligence Bulletin January 23, 1975
US assistance in the form of training, equipment,
technical aids, and helicopters should eventually help
Mexico make inroads on the narcotics growing and traf-
ficking. In the meantime, however, Mexico will remain
a convenient country for traffickers to operate in--
interdiction efforts like those of last week notwith-
standing.
CIA
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Approved for Release: 2019/07/26 C06787448