The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced Thursday that in this year alone, they had seized a huge volume of fentanyl crossing the border that was enough to kill 200 million individuals.

Based on the new data provided by the Texas DPS, the drug seizures in the state were part of Operation Lone Star, a state initiative targeting to curb the entry of human traffickers and drug runners into Texas.

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According to Fox News, the data showed that Operation Lone Star has seized 160 pounds of fentanyl within its targeted area.

Aside from fentanyl, other drugs seized within the area included 13,494 pounds of marijuana, 1,647 pounds of methamphetamine, 2,430 pounds of cocaine, and 37 pounds of heroin.

Based on the DPS data presented in a slide presentation, if the activities inside and outside of Operation Lone Star's area of interest will be combined, the department has seized a total of 886 pounds of fentanyl which were approximately 200,790,522 lethal doses.

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According to DPS seized drug system trainer Jennifer Hatch, traffickers tried to sell fentanyl as "synthetic heroin" to increase their profits.

However, Hatch noted that their strategy ended up with unfortunate circumstances as the users ended up dead because people did not know that fentanyl was in the drugs they were ingesting.

She added that most recently, fentanyl has been found in ecstasy tablets. A DPS spokesperson also presented data that showed Operation Lone Star has resulted in about 165,497 migrant apprehensions and referrals. 

Operation Lone Star also reportedly resulted in the additional seizure of 477 firearms and over 10,000 criminal arrests. Operation Lone Star was formed in March under the supervision of Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

At the time of the operation's launch, Abbott said the state's southern border crisis had escalated because of the Biden administration's lax border policies. In particular, Abbott cited the Biden administration policies that invite illegal immigration and refuse to secure the border.

The Republican governor noted that Texas supported legal immigration. But he said his administration would not be an accomplice to the open border policies "that cause" a humanitarian crisis" in the state and endanger the Texans' lives.

Abbott noted that they would surge the resources and add law enforcement personnel to confront the crisis. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the U.S. recorded its highest number of drug overdose deaths in a 12-month period, exceeding the 100,000-mark for the first time.

The latest CDC data showed an estimated 100,306 drug deaths in the 12 months running through April. The recent numbers marked a 29 percent rise from the deaths recorded in the same period a year earlier, indicating that the country is heading for another full-year record after drug deaths soared during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

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