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Mexican Authorities Seize 20 Million Doses of Fentanyl in Record Haul
The operation comes after President-elect Donald J. Trump threatened tariffs on Mexico if the country did not crack down on fentanyl.
James Wagner and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
Reporting from Mexico City
Mexican security forces captured more than a ton of fentanyl this week, marking the country’s largest synthetic opioid seizure, which officials on Wednesday said was equivalent to 20 million doses of the drug.
It was the latest show of force in a crackdown on violence and illicit drugs by Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, ahead of the inauguration next month of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Trump has vowed to place steep tariffs on Mexico until the government stops drugs and migrants from crossing the border.
Mexican authorities said officers confiscated 800 kilograms of fentanyl in a truck at a house in Sinaloa state, home of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel and a hub of fentanyl production, on Tuesday. Officials also seized chemical precursors used to make the synthetic drug, and another 300 kilos in a separate house, in addition to industrial mixers and scales.
In a separate operation that day, security officials and prosecutors said they arrested two men carrying two kilos of fentanyl pills. The authorities said the men led a cell “dedicated to the production and trafficking” of fentanyl.
During her daily news conference on Wednesday morning, Ms. Sheinbaum said the operations were part of a long investigation and resulted in “the largest mass seizure of fentanyl pills ever made.”
She added that the operation seized more than 20 million doses of fentanyl pills worth nearly $400 million.
Ms. Sheinbaum, who has promised to curb cartels’ rampant violence, has faced a bloody first two months in office. Warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have turned the state into a war zone following the abduction and arrest by American agents of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, a godfather of the cartel who was betrayed by the son of his fellow cartel co-founder, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo.
“These actions will continue until the violence in the state of Sinaloa decreases,” Mexico’s security minister, Omar García Harfuch, said on social media, referring to the drug seizures.
Mr. García Harfuch announced this week that since Ms. Sheinbaum took office on Oct. 1, Mexican authorities have arrested more than 5,300 people and seized nearly 58 tons of drugs — including the equivalent of 50 million doses of fentanyl.
The president’s focus on combating crime is a move that some security analysts say may appease Mr. Trump, who has consistently made Mexico a target. He has threatened extreme tariffs on the country’s exports to the United States and even challenged Mexican sovereignty by proposing U.S. military strikes against drug cartels there.
“Trump’s threats, without a doubt, have set the wheels spinning,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexico-based security consultant. “All of this is being done to arrive at the negotiating table with Trump’s security team with a portfolio of achievements.”
Mexico can achieve two goals, he added: “It can help the United States in terms of migration and fentanyl, and at the same time, with those same operations, it could begin to pacify some parts of the country.”
The new administration has put a major emphasis on intelligence, said Josué Ángel González Torres, a security analyst in Mexico City who has previously worked for Mexican security and intelligence agencies. It has also strengthened coordination between federal security forces and the country’s attorney general, local police officers and prosecutors, he said.
Mexico’s previous president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, avoided direct confrontations with criminals and instead focused on addressing the root causes of violence, such as poverty — a policy enshrined in the slogan “hugs, not bullets.” The approach had some success, but it failed to significantly decrease bloodshed across Mexico, government data shows.
It’s too soon to see whether Ms. Sheinbaum has departed from this security policy, but some analysts said there are hints of a more heavy-handed approach.
“I no longer hear the ‘hugs, not bullets’ saying,” Mr. González Torres said. “There are substantive changes that seem to be positive.”
In Tuesday’s operation, Mexican authorities said patrol officers saw some men carrying what appeared to be firearms fleeing into two houses in Ahome, a municipality in Sinaloa. The authorities entered the properties and found a combined 1,100 kilos of fentanyl, plus the equipment used to make it.
The second, smaller, operation occurred in Guasave, a municipality in Sinaloa. There, Mexican authorities said that officers spotted a car whose two occupants tried to flee. The officers caught up with the vehicle, stopped it and searched it. They found three firearms, nine loaded magazines, radio communication equipment and two kilograms of fentanyl pills, officials said.
James Wagner covers Latin America, including sports, and is based in Mexico City. A Nicaraguan American from the Washington area, he is a native Spanish speaker. More about James Wagner
Emiliano Rodríguez Mega is a reporter and researcher for The Times based in Mexico City, covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. More about Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
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