Mexican police who raided a drug-traffickers' party at the weekend seized weapons, vehicles and a number of exotic pets - including this albino tiger.

Authorities in Mexico City said yesterday that more than a dozen members of an alleged drug-trafficking ring were arrested in the raid on a sprawling mansion in the upmarket neighbourhood of Desierto de los Leones - Desert of the Lions.

The name was certainly apt: among the animals seized were two lions and two tigers.

Marisela Morales, organised crime prosecutor, said that 11 Colombians, two Mexicans, a Uruguayan and an American were detained during the raid.

Ms Morales identified the gang’s leader as Teodoro Fino Restrepo, who allegedly arranged for sea-borne cocaine shipments from Colombia to Mexico’s Beltran Leyva cartel. The American was named as Raul Raul Munoz Montalvo, of Texas.

All the suspects are being held on suspicion of drug trafficking, money laundering and organized-crime activities, Ms Morales said. Nine Mexicans working as waiters and disk jockeys were briefly held and released.

The mansion, whose walls, ceilings and furniture are made almost entirely of ornately carved wood, appeared to have been used by the traffickers for parties on nights and weekends. Those who received invitations were picked up at nearby shopping-centre parking lots in vehicles with blacked-out windows to prevent them from seeing where they were going.

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