Army seizes largest drug cartel weapons cache ever found in Mexico

1. Pan of confiscated weapons 2. Mid of weapons 3. Mid of weapons, cash and riot gas canisters 4. Close up of riot gas canisters 5. Mid of rifle 6. Various of confiscated weapons 7. Various of gold-plated gun 8. Assault rifles, handguns, ammunition 9. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Marisela Morales, Mexican Assistant Attorney General: "It's enough just to point out that until last week, the entire government of Mexico had confiscated 2.4 million rounds of ammunition and 1,642 grenades from organised crime." 10. Various of confiscated weapons STORYLINE: The Mexican army on Friday announced that it has made the largest seizure of drug-cartel weapons in Mexico's history. The cache of 540 rifles, 165 grenades, 500-thousand rounds of ammunition and 14 sticks of TNT were seized on Thursday at a house in the city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, Mexican Assistant Attorney General Marisela Morales said. Morales was speaking to reporters at Defence Department headquarters, where the army displayed hundreds of rifles, pistols, and shotguns, and laid out rows of grenades and crates of ammunition. Morales said the largest previous bust involved a cache of 280 weapons found in 1984. The weapons in this latest seizure belonged to the Gulf drug cartel, an official said after Morales made her statement. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the news media. Soldiers detected the cache when they chased suspects into the home after the men refused orders to stop, Morales said. Three suspects were detained. It was unclear whether the raid was related to an FBI intelligence report obtained by a Texas newspaper in October that warned the Gulf cartel was stockpiling high-powered weapons in Reynosa to prepare for possible confrontations with US law enforcement. Morales did not take questions from reporters. The man who allegedly leads the cartel's hit squad in the area, Jaime Gonzalez Duran, was mentioned in the FBI report as having ordered dozens of hit men to the Reynosa area as part of those plans. Gonzalez Duran was arrested in Reynosa on Friday. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/716f5264a3778c319f11510a9a398b30 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork