Heavily armed soldiers and police seized a record marijuana haul from three homes in Tijuana early on 18 October 2010 after a shootout with suspected traffickers.[1][2] Police had noticed a suspicious convoy on the city’s roads, and after armed escorts of a marijuana-laden truck exchanged fire and were subdued, they told officers where the rest of the drugs were stored.[2] One officer and one suspect were injured in the exchange of fire, and 11 suspects were arrested.[1][2]

The marijuana, wrapped in more than 15,000 packages and held in shipping containers, was bound for the United States across the border near San Diego.[1][2] Army Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mujica put its Mexican street value at 4.2 billion pesos, about $340 million, a figure that would have risen had the drugs crossed the border.[2] The first estimate of 105 tonnes grew as counting continued, and on 20 October the authorities gave a final weight of 134 tonnes.[1][2] Government security spokesman Alejandro Poire called it the biggest seizure of marijuana packed for sale in the country’s history and said it probably belonged to the Sinaloa cartel.[1]