Mexican authorities announced on Friday that nearly half a million fentanyl tablets were seized during a security operation in Culiacan, the capital of the western state of Sinaloa.
During a raid on a warehouse in the aforementioned city, which took place on Thursday, Mexican security forces also found 83 kg of fentanyl powder and about a ton of methamphetamine.
It came a day after authorities announced a “historic” drug seizure in the same city, where about half a ton of fentanyl worth about $230 million was confiscated from another warehouse.
The two major operations were announced days before Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s scheduled visit to the United States to meet with his American counterpart, Joe Biden.
It should be noted that the state of Sinaloa is the stronghold of one of the largest and most powerful drug gangs in the world, which bears the same name.
Notably, fentanyl is an opioid analgesic that is about 100 times more potent than morphine, and its abuse by drug addicts has caused a recent jump in drug abuse deaths in the US.
Most fentanyl enters the United States via Mexico, where it is made from chemicals smuggled in from China.
Source: Associated Press.