Mexican army seizes over 1.8M fentanyl pills

MEXICO CITY

Mexico’s armed forces seized more than 1.8 million fentanyl pills and 400 kilograms of methamphetamine as well as a vehicle and property in the city of Tijuana in northwestern Baja California state, the Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday.

The move follows a series of operations looking to break down the drug trade in the country and a recent feud between Mexico City and Washington over the fentanyl crisis in the US.

The Mexican military also announced the confiscation of 280 kilograms of fentanyl and 720 kilograms of controlled medications in Ahome in Sinaloa state inside a tractor-trailer that was heading to Ciudad Obregon in the state of Sonora.

On Monday, Mexico's Attorney General's Office announced they had seized a shipment of 354,000 fentanyl pills and 2.7 kilograms of pure fentanyl in Sinaloa.

US authorities have pressured their southern neighbor to ramp up efforts to crack down on the manufacture and distribution of fentanyl products in Mexico, which end up being smuggled into the US.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 150 people die every day in the US from overdoses related to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

Over 105,000 fentanyl overdose-related deaths were reported in the US last year.

During a routine press conference on March 9, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected allegations about a lack of proper controls for producing fentanyl. He said it was an issue the US had to deal with, not Mexico.

"And we are very sorry for what is happening in the United States, but why don't they deal with the problem? Why don't they combat the distribution of fentanyl in the United States, the cartels in the United States that are in charge of distributing fentanyl, and more thoroughly?" he said.