<p>Armed officers found slabs of cocaine inside more than 20 sharks aboard a freight ship in the Gulf coast port of Progreso in Yucatan state. <br /><br />Correspondents say cartels are coming up with increasingly creative ways of smuggling drugs into the US. <br />Shipments of cocaine have also been discovered hidden inside sealed beer cans, religious statues and furniture. <br /><br />"We are talking about more than a tonne of cocaine that was inside the ship," said Mexican Navy Commander Eduardo Villa. <br />He said X-ray machines and sniffer dogs had helped to uncover the haul. <br />"Those in charge of the shipment said it was a conserving agent but after checks we confirmed it was cocaine," he said. <br /><br />In another development Tuesday, the Mexican Navy unveiled what it described as one of the largest methamphetamine labs ever found in the country. <br />When officers stumbled across the enormous holding tank in a remote part of the northern state of Sinaloa last week they thought it might be used to water a marijuana plantation. <br /><br />Instead, the tank fed water into two enormous sheds where investigators found 12,905 gallons (49,640 litres) of ephedrine, a chemical used to make methamphetamine. <br />Officials said it was enough to produce 40.2 tonnes of the drug, or about 309 million individual doses. <br /><br />So far this year more than 2,700 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico. Last year about 6,300 were killed. <br />Mexican President Felipe Calderon has committed some 45,000 troops and federal police to try to crush the country's powerful cartels.<br /></p>
<p>Armed officers found slabs of cocaine inside more than 20 sharks aboard a freight ship in the Gulf coast port of Progreso in Yucatan state. <br /><br />Correspondents say cartels are coming up with increasingly creative ways of smuggling drugs into the US. <br />Shipments of cocaine have also been discovered hidden inside sealed beer cans, religious statues and furniture. <br /><br />"We are talking about more than a tonne of cocaine that was inside the ship," said Mexican Navy Commander Eduardo Villa. <br />He said X-ray machines and sniffer dogs had helped to uncover the haul. <br />"Those in charge of the shipment said it was a conserving agent but after checks we confirmed it was cocaine," he said. <br /><br />In another development Tuesday, the Mexican Navy unveiled what it described as one of the largest methamphetamine labs ever found in the country. <br />When officers stumbled across the enormous holding tank in a remote part of the northern state of Sinaloa last week they thought it might be used to water a marijuana plantation. <br /><br />Instead, the tank fed water into two enormous sheds where investigators found 12,905 gallons (49,640 litres) of ephedrine, a chemical used to make methamphetamine. <br />Officials said it was enough to produce 40.2 tonnes of the drug, or about 309 million individual doses. <br /><br />So far this year more than 2,700 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico. Last year about 6,300 were killed. <br />Mexican President Felipe Calderon has committed some 45,000 troops and federal police to try to crush the country's powerful cartels.<br /></p>