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Mexico Investigates Report of Drug Gangs Obtaining Anti-Aircraft Missiles


Mexican authorities are investigating a report that a violent drug cartel has obtained anti-aircraft missiles that could be used to kill President Vicente Fox.

The Mexican newspaper El Universal says a U.S.-based private intelligence firm, Stratfor, has issued a report saying the Soviet-era weapons were purchased on the black market by a group of ex-Mexican army commandoes now working with drug traffickers.

The weapons were said to have been first acquired by Nicaragua during its civil war in the 1980s, and some could have been passed on to drug-smuggling groups.

A Mexican prosecutor says the report lacks credibility, but says his country is contacting U.S. authorities to determine if the report is true, or, in his words, "taken from a movie script."

President Fox has launched a massive crackdown on drug traffickers to combat a surge of drug-related violence.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

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