Mexican soldiers and marines seized more than a tonne of fentanyl tablets in two raids in the north of the country, in what officials called the largest catch of the synthetic opioid in the country’s history, Mexican media reported.
The raids came after a sharp drop in fentanyl seizures in Mexico earlier this year and days after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico if those countries did not take action to stem the flow of migrants and drugs across the border.
Experts say the timing coincidence may not be coincidental. Security analyst David Saucedo said:
“It is clear that the Mexican government has been managing the timing of fentanyl seizures. But under the pressure by Donald Trump, it appears President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration is willing to the increase the capture of drug traffickers and drug seizures that Washington is demanding.”
Saucedo said it is clear that the Mexican government “does not consider fentanyl one of its problems, and fighting it is not its priority.” He added that major detentions would only be made “under pressure from Washington.”
Mexico’s top security official said soldiers and Marines spotted two men with guns late Tuesday in the northern state of Sinaloa, where the eponymous drug cartel is based.
They chased the men, who ran into two homes. Soldiers found about 660 pounds of fentanyl in one of the homes and a truck containing about 1,750 pounds of the drug, mostly in pill form, in the other.
“In Sinaloa, we achieved the biggest seizure in history of fentanyl,” Public Safety Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch wrote on his social media accounts. Several weapons were also seized and two men were arrested.
In the past, Mexican security forces have sometimes used the story of armed men running into homes as an excuse to enter a home without a search warrant. In at least one case, the government’s version was disproved by surveillance footage.
The latest batch is striking in that fentanyl seizures in Mexico dropped sharply in the first half of the year. At some points in the summer, under former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, federal forces reported seizures of no more than 50 grams (2 ounces) per week.
Data for the first half of 2024 show that from January to June, Mexican federal forces seized only 286 pounds (130 kilograms) of fentanyl nationwide, 94% less than the 5,135 pounds (2,329 kilograms) seized in 2023.
