The Tax Administration Service (SAT), which administers customs in Mexico, announced Tuesday that customs officials discovered $450 million in a customs office in Toluca, as part of an initiative against arms trafficking by the World Customs Organization (WCO) called Operation Chimera.
Operation Chimera seeks to detect and fight trafficking of weapons and parts of weapons, as well as foreign currencies being illegally transported.
The operation involved inspecting imports and exports, as well as passengers on international flights. Customs officials used a new inspection strategy that that uses non-intrusive inspection methods for specific goods.
A press release from SAT said that the new strategy allowed Mexico to achieve the largest confiscation of cash in a WCO operation the history of the organization.
The press release added that Mexico was one of the countries with the most activity during Operation Chimera in terms of confiscations, and will be an important player in efforts against arms trafficking in the future.
