Australia is Mexican drug lord’s new target

A MEXICAN drug lord has specifically ordered his cartel to target Australia, forge closer links with outlaw motor cycle gangs and open regional meth labs in a move that has already made ‘ice’ use here among the highest in the world.

Australian authorities now say Colombia and cocaine is not just the focus, it’s all Mexico and methamphetamine with the emergence of a new cartel, likened to ISIS because of its brutality, establishing a foothold here.

The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (Jalisco New Generation Cartel) or CJNG and its Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes aka El Mencho were barely heard of two years ago but have emerged as the world’s most powerful drugs cartel.

According to authorities, China-sourced Mexican drug supplies account for more than 70 per cent of amphetamines seized in this region.

El Mencho, according to US Drug Enforcement Agency intelligence, is using the Australian market as the basis to grow his empire and now direct drugs here from China, India, Cambodia and the Philippines and using outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCG) as middle level distributors.

AFP deputy commissioner Neil Gaughan said Mexico was emerging as a trouble spot and the opening of an AFP post there last October with the collaboration of local authorities was already producing “significant results”.

“I think it’s also fair to say that we are starting to see more methamphetamine coming in from South America, and particularly Mexico, being the primary one,” Mr Gaughan told a Senate hearing this week.

“So we’ve got to be nimble and quick and continue to deploy our resources accordingly to try and address the problem as best as we can.”

He said having dedicated AFP posts overseas had been successful. “We’re using a lot more fly-in fly-out applications of resources as well,” Mr Gaughan said.