Mexican soldiers hit the jackpot when they carried out a surprise search of a car in the unruly border town of Tijuana and found $15 million plus jewels and drugs stashed inside.

The haul, uncovered on Friday, most likely belonged to one of the country's notorious drug cartels, the defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

Showing the money off to the press, officials said it was believed that the cash was being transferred to a house used by members of the criminal gang headed by Joaquin Guzman," known by his alias as "El Chapo" and one of the most wanted men in Mexico.

No shots were fired in the operation and no-one was arrested, the statement said. The haul, which also included three kilos of cocaine and weapons, was the third largest ever in the country.

In 2007 more than $207 million was found in a house belonging to a Chinese businessman Zhenli Ye Gon. And in September 2008 troops found $26.2 million in Culiacan, capital of northwestern Sinaloa state.