Global Ganja Report

The US Navy transport ship USS New Orleans recovered an estimated 1,800 pounds of cannabis from a small boat off the coast of San Diego Aug. 20. Coast Guard officials received a call about a 20-foot fishing boat apparently from Mexico, and requested the New Orleans respond as they were operating in the vicinity. As the New Orleans approached, the boat's crew dumped several bundles overboard. Officials said some 1,800 pounds of cannabis was recovered from the dumped bundles. The recovered cannabis and several crew members were turned over to the Mexican navy.

Last month, Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla AKA "El Mayito"—the son of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael Zambada AKA "El Mayo"—filed pleadings in a Chicago federal court accusing the US Justice Department of giving the cartel "carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States." Zambada's pleadings claim that protection included promises to be kept apprised of US and Mexican government investigations close to the "home territories" of cartel leaders so they "could take appropriate actions to evade investigators"—even as the US had indictments, extradition requests, and rewards for the apprehension of the top Sinaloa Cartel leadership.

Police in Mexico City announced the arrest of Óscar Osvaldo García Montoya, AKA "El Compayito" on Aug. 11—accused leader of "La Mano con Ojos" (Hand with Eyes) criminal organization, accused in some 900 killings. The raid was carried out by police from the Federal District and México state, with intelligence provided by the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR).

Federal prosecutors in Dayton are wrapping up a case against 11 immigrant men charged with cultivating thousands of cannabis plants. All have pleaded guilty and seven have received sentences ranging from a year to 18 months in prison. When the arrests were announced in the fall, state Attorney General Richard Cordray said the case was further evidence of what he called "cartel-sponsored mega-marijuana farms taking root in Ohio." But defense attorneys say the defendants were poor day laborers trying to earn money for their families with no idea about what they were being hired to do.

The average income of Mexican households fell by 12.3% between 2008 and 2010, the government's National Statistics and Geography Institute (INEGI) reported on July 15. The richest households generally lost the most in percentages, but poorer households suffered more because their income was already so low, according to the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure, which the INEGI conducts every two years. The decline in income reflects a 6.1% contraction of the Mexican economy in 2009 in the midst of a world economic crisis that started in the US; the Mexican economy recovered partially in 2010 with a 5.4% expansion. (La Jornada, Mexico, July 16)

Mexican soldiers patrolling a remote desert area of Ensenada municipality in Baja California discovered a massive cannabis plantation, which authorities say is the largest yet found in the country. The plantation, full of rows of 8-foot plants, was being tended by dozens of men, who were operating an irrigation system, pumping water through hoses from a well they had dug. Most of them escaped, with six being caught later at a military checkpoint. 

Some "gun trafficking 'higher-ups'" who supply weapons to Mexican drug cartels may have been "paid as informants" by US government agencies, according to a letter two ranking US Congress members sent US attorney general Eric Holder on July 5. "The evidence we have gathered," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) wrote, "raises the disturbing possibility that the Justice Department"—which Holder heads—"not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons but that taxpayer dollars from other agencies may have financed those engaging in such activities." The "other agencies" may include the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the letter said.

In three separate incidents in 24 hours July 6, Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector seized more than 3,000 pounds of cannabis, claiming an estimated value of $1.5 million. In the first bust, a canine unit alerted to a vehicle during an inspection at the Hwy. 80 checkpoint, turning up 88 small bundles of cannabis concealed in the vehicle's compartments. The driver, a US citizen, is facing federal charges.