Posts
"...many alleged fronts for drug cartel activity remain open around Mexico, despite the attempts of U.S. and Mexican officials to shut them down.
Experts say that cutting off operations that funnel illegal money into banks and other legitimate businesses is key to winning the country’s bloody war against drug cartels. But the Mexican government, hampered by inefficient laws and few investigators, has seized less than 1 percent of the estimated annual $10 to $29 billion in drug profits moving through Mexico, despite recent measures such as strict limits on the use of U.S. dollars in cash.
From 2008 to mid-2010, prosecutors seized only $65.1 million in money laundering proceeds, mainly in dollars, but with smaller amounts in pesos, euros and gold, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press under a freedom-of-information request. In the same time, they won only 37 convictions in money-laundering cases, out of 150 suspects arrested or brought to trial, the records from the Attorney General’s Office show."
