Mexican army seizes more than $1 million in cash, drugs from house in northern Sinaloa state

Mexican army seizes $1 million in cash from house

MEXICO CITY — Mexican soldiers seized more than $1 million in cash from a house in a northern state that is the home base of the country’s most powerful cartel, authorities said Friday.

Soldiers acting on an anonymous tip raided three houses Thursday in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, the Defense Department said in a statement.

They found $1 million in cash, four guns and $80 in fake cash in the first house, the department said. In a second, they discovered $28,400, cocaine, a gun, expensive watches and other jewelry. Drugs were found in the third house.

The department did not say what cartel might have owned the money. There were no arrests.

Sinaloa state is a stronghold of the cartel with the same name, led by kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

In the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, meanwhile, two 15-year-old girls were among 15 people killed in a 24-hour period, said Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state Attorney General’s Office.

The girls were riding in a car with three men Thursday night when assailants opened fire. The girls were killed inside the car, while the men tried to flee and were shot dead on the street, Sandoval said.

More than 20 bullet casings were found at the scene, some belonging to Kalashnikovs and AR-15 assault rifles.

Police had no immediate suspects.

Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, is one of the deadliest cities in the world. Daily homicide tolls in the double digits are common.

The city has been besieged by a turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.