Mexican authorities find cocaine inside Social Security truck

Cocaine. AFP FILE PHOTO

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico —Mexican authorities have seized more than 800 pounds (371 kilograms) of cocaine being transported toward the U.S. border inside a truck bearing the markings of the country’s Social Security Institute.

The institute, which runs hospitals and other social services, denied that any of its employees or vehicles was involved in the incident.

A Defense Department statement said soldiers discovered the packets of drugs hidden inside the vehicle’s mobile medical scanner at a highway checkpoint Wednesday night.

The white truck had logo that sought to imitate those of one of the social security institute’s anti-poverty programs.

The truck had departed the Tamaulipas state capital of Ciudad Victoria bound for Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.

Soldiers detained three people on board who said they were employees of the Social Security Institute.

The institute later said in a statement that none of the three were its employees. /jpv