The Mexican army on Tuesday seized a half-a-million fentanyl pills in what authorities say is the largest synthetic drug bust to date.
In all, Mexican authorities successfully seized 630,000 pills believed to contain fentanyl, 282 pounds of fentanyl powder and 220 pounds of what authorities suspected to be methamphetamines, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The lab was located in the capital city of Culiacan in the northern state of Sinaloa, according to the outlet.
The Mexican army has seized more than half a million fentanyl pills in a raid on what it calls the largest synthetic drug lab it has found so far.https://t.co/czuihT4JqK
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 16, 2023
“This is the highest-capacity synthetic drug production lab on record during this administration,” the army said in a statement, according to The AP.
Drug cartels in Mexico are manufacturing fentanyl for distribution and sale in the United States at an increasing scale, according to a release from the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California. Precursor chemicals to create the drug are typically imported from China and pressed into pills or mixed into other drugs for use.
“A decade ago, we didn’t even know about fentanyl, and now it’s a national crisis,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said, according to the release. (RELATED: Number of Troops Dying From Fentanyl More Than Doubles)
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez held a hearing Tuesday addressing the continuing and growing problem of fentanyl overdoses in the United States.
“We need to use every foreign policy tool we have to stop the flow of fentanyl into our country. This means asking Mexico to do more to disrupt criminal organizations from producing and trafficking fentanyl …. It means expanding our work with India to strengthen regulation of its chemical and pharmaceutical industries. And of course, it also means confronting China,” Menendez said.