Fact Check

Did Mexico Seize 800 Pounds of U.S. Government Cocaine?

Reports that authorities in Mexico confiscated a massive shipment of cocaine headed towards a U.S. government facility are fake news.

Published Nov. 20, 2017

Claim:
Authorities in Mexico have seized a massive shipment of cocaine headed towards a U.S. government facility.

On 19 November 2017, the YourNewsWire web site published an article positing that authorities in Mexico had seized a massive shipment of cocaine headed towards a U.S. government facility:

Authorities in Mexico have seized a massive shipment of cocaine that was headed towards a U.S. government facility in America.

Mexican Soldiers have now detained three men who were inside of the vehicle, claiming that they were employees of the Social Security Institute which has yet to be confirmed by the agency.

The truck originated in the Tamaulipas state capital of Ciudad Victoria bound for Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas; and it remains unseen if it belongs to a Cartel or how they acquired the vehicle if that were the case.

There will be an ongoing investigation involving both United States Federal Agencies and Mexican authorities to determine whether anyone from inside either nation’s disaster programs was involved in the trafficking or even the theft of the vehicle.

The reference to a Mexican seizure of "U.S. government cocaine" had no basis in reality, which is not surprising given that YourNewsWire is a fake news site that peddles in clickbait fabrications and has been banned from Google's AdSense advertising program as a result:

[W]hile churning out demonstrably false narratives day in and day out has reportedly cost [YourNewsWire] 60 percent of its revenue after Google AdSense dropped it, the ad network Revcontent still allows YourNewsWire to monetize clicks, giving its publishers financial incentives to continue pushing bullshit to gullible right-wing audiences.

This story was produced from a distorted version of a recent Associated Press report about Mexican authorities seizing cocaine that was concealed in a vehicle bearing markings of the Social Security Institute:

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 were 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.

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.

The Social Security Institute referred to in this report is a Mexican agency that has nothing to do with the U.S. Social Security Administration. The Associated Press report contained no indication that the confiscated cocaine was intended for a U.S. destination (other than that it was being shipped to a Mexican city that was "toward the U.S. border") or had any connection to any facility or persons involved with the U.S. government.

Moreover, the photograph that accompanied the YourNewsWire story was taken from a completely unrelated, ten-year-old news report about Mexican authorities seizing and burning 134 tons of marijuana.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.