Mexican soldiers seized more than a half million fentanyl pills in a raid on what the army's announcement Wednesday called the largest synthetic drug lab found to date.
The army said the outdoor lab was discovered in Culiacan, the capital of the northern state of Sinaloa. Sinaloa is home to the drug cartel of the same name.
Soldiers raided the lab Tuesday and found almost 630,000 pills that appear to contain the synthetic opioid fentanyl. They also reported seizing 282 pounds of powdered fentanyl and about 220 pounds of suspected methamphetamines. "This is the highest-capacity synthetic drug production lab on record during this administration," the army said in a statement.
Mexican drug cartels produce the opioid from precursor chemicals shipped from China, and then press it into pills counterfeited to look like Xanax, Percocet or Oxycodone. People often take the pills without knowing they contain fentanyl and can suffer deadly overdoses. The bust came on the same day that the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the the huge number of U.S. fentanyl overdoses that occur annually, currently around 70,000."This means asking Mexico to do more to disrupt the criminal organizations from producing and trafficking fentanyl, although a politicized judiciary and incidents of Mexican security forces colluding with drug cartels will make that difficult," he said.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Strong winds, unseasonably warm temperatures expected across GTA WednesdayThe Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is expected to see strong winds and temperatures that “feel more like late March or early April” on Wednesday afternoon, according to Environment Canada.
Read more »
Leafs star Auston Matthews eyeing Wednesday return following knee sprainAuston Matthews is ready to get back into action.
Read more »
Leafs star Auston Matthews eyeing Wednesday return following knee sprain | TSNAuston Matthews is ready to get back into action. The Maple Leafs star told reporters following Tuesday's practice he's aiming to return to the lineup when Toronto hosts the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.
Read more »
Strong winds, unseasonably warm temperatures expected across GTA WednesdayThe Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is expected to see strong winds and temperatures that “feel more like late March or early April” on Wednesday afternoon, according to Environment Canada.
Read more »
Toronto to see high winds, double digit temperatures WednesdayEnvironment Canada released a special weather statement, warning the city could experience winds up to 80 km/h.
Read more »
Strong winds expected to hit Durham on WednesdayEnvironment Canada issued a special weather statement for parts of Durham. They say strong winds are expected in the southern part of the region beginning We
Read more »