Mexican security forces seized more than a ton of fentanyl pills in what officials called the largest seizure of the synthetic opioid in the country’s history.
Soldiers and marines found two possessions of fentanyl in the northern state of Sinaloa late Tuesday — exactly one week later. Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs about things from Canada and Mexico, but two neighboring countries have cracked down on the flow of immigrants and drugs across their borders with the US.
Mexican authorities also said they had apprehended more than 5,200 migrants across the country on Tuesday, signaling a further ramping up of enforcement efforts to prevent people from reaching the US border.
Fentanyl seizures have dropped in Mexico this year, and experts say the alarming reports of drug raids may not be a fluke.
“It’s clear that the Mexican government has been managing the fentanyl attacks regularly,” said security analyst David Saucedo. “But under the influence of Donald Trump, the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum seems to want to increase the arrests of drug traffickers and drug raids that Washington demands.”
Saucedo said it is clear that the Mexican government “does not see fentanyl as one of its problems, and fighting it is not its priority.” He added that the photos would be great “when it’s Washington’s power.”
Mexico’s top security official said the raids were launched after soldiers and militiamen on Tuesday spotted two men carrying guns who ran into two houses as security forces chased them.
In one house, troopers found about 660lbs (300kg) of fentanyl, and in another, a truck filled with about 1,750lbs (800kg) of the drug, mostly in pill form.
“In Sinaloa we have achieved the largest seizure in the history of fentanyl,” Omar Garcia Harfuch, secretary of public security, wrote on his social media accounts. They also seized several guns and two people were arrested.
Sheinbaum said Wednesday “this is an investigation that has been going on for some time and yesterday it bore fruit.”
This statement seemed to be at odds with the seemingly random nature of the image described by Harfuch.
In the past, Mexican security forces have sometimes used the story of following armed men running into homes as a pretext to enter homes without conducting searches.
The latest report also noted that fentanyl attacks in Mexico fell dramatically in the first half of the year.
Figures for the first half of 2024 show that Mexican federal forces seized only 286lbs (130kg) of the country’s fentanyl between January and June, up 94% from the 5,135lbs (2,329kg) seized in 2023.
Synthetic opioids are blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths annually in the United States, and U.S. officials have made efforts to crack down on what’s coming at the border; often in pill form in Mexico from the forerunner of the economy, much of it was imported from China.
“It’s a very big seizure,” Saucedo said. “But if they don’t shake up the labs, this kind of production will continue.”