Click to copy

Mexico says organized crime present at ports, customs

August 12, 2019 GMT

FILE - In this July 1, 2019 file photo, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador delivers his speech during rally to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his election, in Mexico City's main square, the Zocalo. Vigilante attacks and mob justice appeared to be on the rise in Mexico this second week of August, as violence mounted, two dozen bodies appeared along roadsides and the government ruled out any new crackdown on criminal gangs. But Lopez Obrador said Friday, Aug. 9, 2019, that he won’t be drawn into the kind of army offensive that then-President Felipe Calderon launched against the cartels in 2006, when he sent troops to Michoacan. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president is acknowledging that organized crime gangs are in control of certain customs stations and ports and says his government is working to fix that.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says “one of the most infiltrated” points is the port of Manzanillo in Colima state. But he says “everything is being cleaned up.”

There have been repeated complaints of corruption in Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas. Both Pacific coast ports are arrival points for precursor chemicals to make methamphetamine.

There have also been problems at border crossings in Tamaulipas state, across from Texas, where most commerce with the United States transits along with illicit drugs and weapons.

López Obrador said Monday the customs system was “very rotten” and “taken over” by crime gangs and officials who were their accomplices.