Mexican authorities detect 13 fentanyl trafficking routes

On 13 routes departing from central and western Mexico, the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) and Sinaloa cartels are trafficking fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the United States .

It is worth noting that Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin and has become extremely popular among opioid addicts, even though it is also highly lethal.

Through an official report, Mexico’s Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) assured that the drug was being shipped from Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Puebla, Michoacán, Jalisco, Querétaro, Morelos, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Durango, Baja California, Baja California Sur, and Sonora .

Fentanyl is often sold as a painkiller and shipped to Tijuana, from where the product is taken to California.

Through package delivery companies, private vehicles, buses, cargo transport, and airplanes, criminal groups are trafficking fentanyl processed with other substances such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, which make it more addictive.

In their annual report for 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) called attention to the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels as the main suppliers of this type of drug in the United States.

“Most fentanyl seizures happen in southern California, near the Mexican border. We’ve noticed a very strong presence of the Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and Sinaloa cartels,” stated the DEA.

According to the AIC, fentanyl and other drugs arrive in the ports of Manzanillo, Colima, Lázaro Cárdenas, and Michoacán from China, Hong Kong, and Singapore .

Ricardo Márquez Blas

, security expert, warned that Mexico was on its way to becoming the main processor of fentanyl, since criminal organizations are now combining it with other synthetic drugs before shipping them to the United States.

“Since it is a new product, they have to introduce it along with other popular drugs,” he claimed.

Márquez Blas stated that federal authorities had detected drug labs in the country where the new opioid was being processed. “We should soon expect more fentanyl shipments into the country since the drug cartels want to avoid triangulation. It is easier for them to receive the drug directly, process it, and then send it to the U.S.”

“The cartels will likely start selling fentanyl to Mexican consumers as well, if they haven't done so already” he added.

The first narcotics labs that were seized last year by the Prosecutor General (FGR) were found in Sinaloa, Mexico City, and Sonora . Last April, federal authorities found a house where thousands of pills were being produced. They were all branded with a letter “M” on one side, and a number indicating the concentration of the drug on the other.

From 2007 to 2018, Mexico’s Federal Police seized 1,538 fentanyl pills, 34 crates, 123,562 kilograms, and another 52,000 pills in Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Nuevo León, and Puebla.

Fentanyl, a threat to Mexico

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