Mexico seizes 37 gallons of morphine used to make heroin

The Mexican army says soldiers have seized 37 gallons (140 liters) of liquid morphine and 96 pounds (43.4 kilograms of opium paste in a rural area of the northern state of Sinaloa.
Opium paste is extracted from poppy bulbs, and later process into morphine and then heroin. Much of it is shipped to the United States by drug cartels.
The army said yesterday the drugs were seized on July 31, after an army patrol saw a group of men flee. The drugs were found in plastic jugs hidden under a tarp.
The seizure occurred in the township of Badiraguato, the hometown of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The army estimated the raw materials would have produced about 309 pounds (140 kilograms) of heroin.