{"id":285274,"date":"2024-12-05T16:05:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T08:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=285274"},"modified":"2024-12-05T16:05:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T08:05:28","slug":"mexico-announces-largest-fentanyl-seizure-in-its-history-amid-us-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=285274","title":{"rendered":"Mexico announces largest fentanyl seizure in its history, amid US pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
A member of the Mexican National Guard surveys the lines to cross the border near Tijuana, Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MEXICO CITY, Dec 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico has announced its largest-ever seizure of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, as cross-border pressure mounts for the country to crack down on drug trafficking into the United States.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday, Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico\u2019s secretary of security and citizen protection, said the haul came after authorities took \u201ctwo separate actions\u201d in the coastal state of Sinaloa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Sinaloa, the largest historical seizure of fentanyl was achieved,\u201d Garcia Harfuch explained, saying that \u201cmore than a tonne of fentanyl pills\u201d were intercepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two men were also arrested and firearms were confiscated. \u201cThese actions will continue until the violence in the state of Sinaloa decreases,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, the Mexican government also announced it had detained more than 5,200 migrants and asylum seekers a day earlier, on Tuesday, as they headed towards the US border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both actions are likely to be seen as efforts to placate the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has threatened<\/a> to slap an onerous 25-percent tariff<\/a> on goods from Mexico and Canada unless both countries take actions to tamp down drug trafficking and immigration across their shared borders with the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her part, President Claudia Sheinbaum, who was inaugurated as Mexico\u2019s president in October, framed the fentanyl seizure as an effort long in the making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an investigation that had been going on for some time, and yesterday, it bore fruit,\u201d she said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheinbaum and Trump spoke last week about efforts to stop migration northwards as well, though the two leaders emerged with different accounts of the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump wrote on social media<\/a> that Sheinbaum had \u201cagreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheinbaum, however, clarified she desired \u201cnot to close borders but to build bridges\u201d. She did, however, affirm that her government would prevent so-called migrant caravans \u2014 large groups of migrants who band together for safety \u2014 from reaching the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fentanyl, meanwhile, is the primary cause of overdose deaths in the US. The US Drug Enforcement Administration describes the synthetic opioid as \u201c100 times more potent\u201d than morphine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 12-month period from 2020 to 2021, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that deaths linked to synthetic opioids had risen more than 55 percent in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s incoming vice president, Senator JD Vance, often spoke about his own family\u2019s experiences with addiction on the campaign trail as the Republican ticket sought the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But statistics from Mexico\u2019s government had shown a slump in fentanyl seizures leading up to Wednesday\u2019s announcement. During the first half of 2024, Mexico\u2019s federal law enforcement seized 130 kilogrammes, or 286 pounds, down 94 percent from the amount seized a year prior. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MEXICO CITY, Dec 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico has announced its largest-ever seizure of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, as cross-border pressure mounts for the country to crack down on drug trafficking into the United States. In a\u00a0statement\u00a0on Wednesday, Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico\u2019s secretary of security and citizen protection, said the haul came after authorities took \u201ctwo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285274"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=285274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":285276,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285274\/revisions\/285276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=285274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=285274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=285274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}