Mexico announces largest fentanyl seizure in history. The timing may not be a coincidence.

Mexican soldiers and marines have seized more than a ton of fentanyl pills in two raids in the north, in what officials are calling the largest seizure of the synthetic opioid in the country’s history.

The raids come after a sharp drop in fentanyl seizures in Mexico earlier this year and days after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs to products from Canada and Mexico unless these countries stop the flow of migrants and drugs across the border.

Experts say the timing may not be a coincidence.

“It’s clear that the Mexican government has managed the timing of the fentanyl seizures,” said security analyst David Saucedo. “But under pressure from Donald Trump, the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum appears to be willing to increase the apprehension of drug traffickers and drug seizures demanded by Washington.”

Saucedo said it’s clear the Mexican government “doesn’t see fentanyl as one of its problems, and fighting it is not its priority,” adding that there will only be major crises “if there is pressure from Washington.”

Mexico’s top security official said soldiers and marines on Tuesday night spotted two men carrying weapons in Sinaloa state, home to the drug cartel of the same name.

They chased the men, who ran into two houses. In one house, troopers found about 660 pounds of fentanyl, and in another, a truck containing about 1,750 pounds of the drug, mostly in pill form.

“In Sinaloa, we achieved the largest fentanyl seizure in history,” Public Safety Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuh wrote on his social media accounts. Several weapons were also recovered and two men were arrested.

President Scheinbaum said Wednesday that “this is an investigation that has been going on for some time and it came to fruition yesterday.”

But that claim contradicts the apparently random nature of the bust, which began when a military patrol “noticed the presence of two men carrying weapons.”

In the past, Mexican security forces have sometimes used the story of gunmen running into homes as a pretext to enter homes without searching them. In at least one case, the government’s version was disproved by security camera footage.

The latest haul was surprising because the number of fentanyl seizures in Mexico had dropped dramatically in the first half of the year. At some points over the summer, under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, federal forces reported seizures of just 50 grams (2 ounces) a week.

Data from the first half of 2024 show Mexican federal forces seized just 286 pounds (130 kilograms) of fentanyl nationwide between January and June, a 94 percent decrease from the 5,135 pounds (2,329 kilograms) seized in 2023.

The synthetic opioid is blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths in the United States each year, and U.S. officials have tried to step up efforts to seize it when it comes across the border, often in the form of counterfeit pills made in Mexico from precursor chemicals. imported from China.

How “60 Minutes” reportedThe fentanyl crisis began 10 years ago when cartels began vying for control of the supply chain from China, buying precursor chemicals for the drug to make their own fentanyl in secret labs in Mexico. In 2019, China “planned” or blocked fentanyl exports to the US, further cementing cartels’ dominance of the pipeline.

López Obrador always denied that fentanyl is even manufactured in Mexico, even though experts – and even members of his own administration – admit it is.

And if Mexico doesn’t go after these fentanyl production facilities, they will still be releasing similar amounts in the future.

“It’s a very big seizure,” Saucedo said. “But if they don’t dismantle the labs, this kind of production will continue.”

Also on Wednesday, the US State Department announced this increasing the reward for the top leader of another cartel, Nemesio Oseguera, between 10 million and 15 million dollars.

Oseguera, known by his nickname “El Mencho” heads the Jalisco cartel, which, like Sinaloa, is heavily involved in the production and distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Last month, the son-in-law of “El Mencho” was arrested California and charged with drug trafficking. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Christian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa “may have faked his death and assumed a false identity to avoid justice and live a life of luxury in California.”