Mexico.- The drug fentanyl it can be said that it is relatively “new”, however it is already pointed out as responsible for thousands of deaths among its users, and also the cause of strong discussions between authorities of USA and Mexicobut also dialogues to join forces and fight against this scourge.
According to reports from the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), the first seizures of the drug fentanyl in Mexico date back to 2017.
Since year, the sedenathe confiscations of fentanyl have been increasing exponentially, publishes the information medium Infobae.
According to internet data, the fentanyl It is a “synthetic opioid narcotic agonist”, used in medicine for its analgesic and anesthetic actions, and which is more potent than morphine. However, from the medical branch, he jumped into the black market of drugs, which are bought by those who can pay for them and are consumed “at will”, it is already known.
According to data from Government of the United States of Americain the year 2021 more than 107 thousand of its citizens died from drug overdose, and most of them, about 67 percent, involved opioids (such as fentanyl). For this reason, there are those who have even suggested that his army enter Mexico to fight the drug traffickers.
In the current administration of Government of Mexicothe one headed by the President Andrés Manuel López Obradorstarted in December 2018, the seizure of this drug has increased by more than a thousand percent, compared to the previous six-year terms, the Infobae text adds.
In total, 6,273 kilograms of fentanyl have been seized throughout Mexico, reported Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Secretary of National Defensein mid-January 2023.
The current government (that of AMLO), has assured that fentanyl is not produced in Mexico, that it is only a transit territory (that is, that this drug is made in other countries, especially Asia, and that it only passes through Mexico).
But Department of State, United Stateshas stated that the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel are the main producers and traffickers of fentanyl that reaches US territory, and that the problem is serious.
forfeitures
In 2021, on November 4, the Sedena reported the seizure of a couple of properties in Culiacán, Sinaloa, one used as a laboratory for synthetic drugand another functioned as a collection center.
There they seized 118 kilograms of fentanyl paste, and four bags of precursor chemical substances for its preparation.
“This seizure of pure fentanyl,” said Sedena, “is considered the largest in history.”
It is estimated that the owners of this drug stopped earning about 970 million 432 thousand pesos.
It is also believed that in said drug laboratory about 70 kilograms of fentanyl paste were produced per month, which would be used to make approximately 70 million pills.
That loss was for the Sinaloa Cartel, also called the Pacific Cartel.
Here they also apprehended a man, Armando “N”, alias “El Inge”, leader of a criminal cell in Culiacán.
In the year 2022, on July 2, elements of the Mexican Army and the National Guard carried out an operation in Culiacán, Sinaloa, where they made the largest seizure of fentanyl on record in the López Obrador administration.
It was in the Las Palmas neighborhood, where on a tour, in a building, law enforcement saw 10 individuals who showed nervousness, for which they were arrested. Two days later, after a search warrant was issued, they discovered a total of 542.72 kilograms of fentanyl.
This fentanyl seizure was considered by the Sedena as the largest registered in the country.
They also seized there more than half a ton of methamphetamine and 71 kilos of chemical precursors.
There, organized crime lost around 4 thousand 642 million pesos (about 224.2 million dollars), estimated the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC).
In 2023, on February 14, soldiers and national guardsmen seized what was called a fentanyl pill manufacturing center and the laboratory with the largest methamphetamine production capacity. In Culiacán too.
There they seized 629,138 fentanyl pills and 128.3 kilos of said granulated opioid, various chemical precursors to create synthetic drugs, 750 kilos of tartaric acid, 275 kilos of mannitol and 225 kilos of caustic soda.
In the same way, the Sedena expressed that said laboratory discovered was the one with the greatest capacity for the production of synthetic drugs that has been historically recorded, not only of the current government administration.
From the most recent data provided by the Sedena, it is found that in this month of February 2023, 1,498,000 fentanyl pills were seized in Sinaloa, while on March 12, 1,834,000 were seized in a property in Tijuana. 862 pills of possible fentanyl.
Meanwhile, despite the seizures, and the arrest of cartel leaders, the fentanyl issue is very present at the dialogue tables between the United States and Mexico… and especially in the morgues.
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