Mexico is the largest transit area for illegal narcotics in the world. Northwards flow the tons of drug shipments into the United States, and southwards return bundles of cash and stacks of guns. This illicit trade which has grown and developed into a booming and highly profitable illicit industry is now annually worth well in excess of $40 billion – and counting.
Yet the days of chucking cash around like confetti to buy luxury goods and haciendas, and using so-called safe houses to stack from basement to rafters piles of high denomination banknotes, are numbered.
The new, more carefully tailored laws, which were designed to detect and curb transactions of illegal proceeds or the financing of terrorism, have some very strict parameters and curbs.
Banned transactions, in national or international currencies, include the sale of real estate or property valued at more than 520,000 pesos ($40,000). Boats, cars or planes over 200,000 pesos are on the list, which also includes anything from jewellery, precious metals, gems, watches to artwork.
Insurance and retail services, credit cards, pre-paid cards or a travellers’ checks, when not offered by financial institutions, also fall under this category.
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