Mexico's Calderon says will target drug cash

MEXICO CITY Aug 26 (Reuters) - Mexico pledged to step up its fight against powerful drug cartels on Thursday by attacking the billions of dollars they earn each year.

President Felipe Calderon said he would send proposals to Congress that would ban cash purchases of real estate and make it easier for officials to seize property from drug cartels and their front companies.

More than 28,000 people have died in drug violence in Mexico since Calderon launched his war on cartels in late 2006.

This week Marines discovered 72 bodies, thought to be of central and South American immigrants headed for the United States, on a remote Mexican ranch. Officials believe they were gunned down by one of the country's brutal drug gangs.

Calderon said the measures would "hit criminals where it hurts the most, their finances."

Mexican cartels, which control most of the cocaine and methamphetamine smuggled into the United States, bring an estimated $25 billion to $40 billion into Mexico from their global operations every year.

Drug money, smuggled mostly from the United States in $100 bills, finds its way onto the books of restaurants, construction firms and bars as drug lords try to legitimize their cash and prevent police from tracing it.

Calderon also promised that the finance ministry would work harder to use laws on the books to fight money laundering. (Reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Jason Lange; editing by Missy Ryan and Stacey Joyce)