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 Americas & Beyond | June 2008 
US, Mexico to Fight Money Laundering Via Customs
 Mariano Castillo - Reuters
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Mexico City - The United States and Mexico will share customs information to crack down on money laundering by drug traffickers, officials from both countries said on Thursday.
Drug cartels shipping cocaine, marijuana and other illegal narcotics north to the United States rely on money laundering operations to reap their illicit rewards.
"We're greatly increasing both our nations' abilities to shut down a variety of dangerous criminal organizations by choking off the illegal flow of money that supports them." said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Julie Myers.
Myers, who heads U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the two countries had set up a joint unit aimed at identifying trade-based money laundering operations to spot unlawful transactions.
The accord could help Mexico recoup lost revenue from fake export receipts, tax fraud and over- or under-invoicing of traded goods, said Juan Jose Bravo, the head of Mexican Customs.
It follows another binational effort this week aimed at curbing weapons smuggling through shared intelligence and the monitoring of illegal gun sales.
A separate U.S. aid package of up to $1.6 billion to fund training and high-tech surveillance equipment for Mexico's war on drug gangs is stuck in the U.S. Congress as some lawmakers want to attach human rights conditions.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in drug violence so far this year across Mexico, a faster pace than in 2007 when around 2,500 were slain over the year.
(Editing by Kieran Murray) |
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