Mexico: 'Historic' Drug Bust Leads to Discovery of Drug-Smuggling Den, Half-Ton of Fentanyl

Mexico has announced a fentanyl bust this week, seizing more than half-ton of fentanyl from a warehouse in the northern city of Culiacan. The operation had also led to the arrest of 10 individuals found there.

The Mexico drug smuggling operation was announced by the Mexican Army and National Guard, saying that law enforcement located a property that had been used by criminals to smuggle drugs, according to The Blaze report.

Authorities found 542.72 kilograms of fentanyl which is believed to be worth around $230 million. Assistant Public Safety Secretary Ricardo Mejia said that it is the largest seizure in the history of this lethal drug.

Drug smugglers south of the U.S.-Mexico border disguise fentanyl as counterfeit pills for common medications like Xanax, Adderall, or oxycodone. The opioid is usually mixed with other drugs, resulting in deadly cocktails that have led thousands to overdose accidentally.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration believes China is handing the source materials for fentanyl, which is then made in Mexico. After its manufacturing, it is smuggled into the U.S. through the southern border.

Mexico's Defense Department noted that the warehouse stash was in the capital of Sinaloa state, Culiacan.

ABC News noted that soldiers also found a half-ton of methamphetamine on the July 2 raid, as well as cocaine, opium, and at least 70 tons of precursor chemicals.

Mexico Fentanyl

DEA noted that at least two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal, with overdose deaths involving opioids like fentanyl rising by 38 percent in the U.S. between 2020 and 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Meanwhile, some drug users are unaware that other narcotics contain fentanyl, which is mainly made in secret labs in Mexico, as reported by the New York Post.

DEA said in a fentanyl fact sheet that fentanyl is being mixed in with other illegal drugs to increase the potency of the drug. The agency added that it is sold as powders and nasal sprays and increasingly pressed into pills made to look like legitimate prescription opioids.

Mexico Drug Smuggling

Transnational business in marijuana, opium, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl has been connected to at least 350,000 deaths and 72,000 disappearances over the past 15 years, according to Foreign Policy report.

The DEA alerted the public in May to a batch of cocaine laced with fentanyl circulating around the city.

Federal and local authorities have been warning the public about an increase in fentanyl trafficking and use.

El Paso Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Greg Millard said in a Border Report that stopping the flow and distribution of drugs, including fentanyl, is a top priority. Millard noted that the problem with the said drugs is quality control, saying that people have no idea what was mixed in the drug they are taking.

The DEA special agent said four out of 10 seized pills tested at DEA labs contained lethal doses.

The DEA reported in 2020 that Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel were the main top players exporting fentanyl from Mexico to the U.S.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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