XINHUA

Mexican soldiers seized a tanker truck carrying 1.1 tons of cocaine in the southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco, the National Defense Secretariat said Monday, Dec. 2.

The illicit drugs seized were estimated to have a street value of $13.8 million, the government said in a statement.

Soldiers discovered the illegal cargo on Friday, Nov. 29, during a routine inspection of the vehicle on the highway connecting Tabasco’s capital Villahermosa with the port of Coatzacoalcos in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz.

Using a gamma ray device, the soldiers detected the truck had a false bottom that contained 1,153 packets of cocaine, and arrested the driver.

Since December 2018, Mexico’s military anti-drug operations have seized a total of 10.1 tons of cocaine, according to the the Defense Secretariat.