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Mexican authorities carried out what an official described as a “historic seizure” of fentanyl in a warehouse earlier this month.
The Department of Defense of Mexico said the warehouse is located in Culiacan, the capital of the state of Sinaloa, home to the infamous drug cartel of the same name. Ten men were arrested.
A collection of fentanyl pills.
(Fox News)
Soldiers also found half a ton of methamphetamine in the July 2 raid, as well as cocaine, opium and at least 70 tons of chemical precursors.
Deputy Secretary of Public Safety Ricardo Mejia called it the largest seizure in the history of fentanyl. He estimated that the 1,200 pounds of fentanyl found in the warehouse had a black market value of approximately $ 230 million.
MEXICAN LEADER OF THE EXTRADED DRUG CART IN THE UNITED STATES TACKLES THE IMPORT OF MORE THAN 1100 KG OF METH IN MIAMI
Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have been behind a dramatic increase in overdose deaths in the United States. Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine, and just two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal.
Fentanyl is usually packed into counterfeit pills made to look like Xanax, Adderall, or Oxicodone, or mixed with other medications. This has led to tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States because people often don’t realize they are taking fentanyl.
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The amount found at the warehouse could have produced millions of counterfeit pills, however the purity was unclear. Almost all of the fentanyl smuggled into the United States comes from Mexico, where it is made with chemical precursors smuggled from China.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called on the Biden administration to secure the border amid a historic spike in illegal crossings, which includes human traffickers, drug cartel agents, and traffickers who bring fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the United States. . Illegally produced fentanyl is fueling a historic rate of addiction and overdose deaths across the country.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
