Amid Trump's tariff threat, Mexico seizes record 20 mn doses of fentanyl

Amid US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs, Mexico has seized record amount of fentanyl this week.

In two instances on Tuesday (December 3), Mexican authorities seized around 1,100 kilograms of fentanyl, which can make around 20 million doses of the drug.

Fentanyl is an opioid that is used in pain medication, but it has increasingly been used as a drug for non-medical purposes in recent decades in the United States. The usage of fentanyl as a drug has led to an addiction epidemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Last month, Trump pledged to impose tariff of 25 per cent on all imports from Mexico for its failure to check the flow of drugs like fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the United States. The recent uptick in drug seizure in Mexico is seen as a response to Trump’s threat.

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Mexico’s largest drug seizure

Mexican authorities on Tuesday seized 1,100 kg of fentanyl at two places in Sinaloa province, which is the hub of drug operations in the country.

In the first case, authorities sized around 800 kgs of fentanyl in a truck along with chemical precursors used to make the drug, according to The New York Times.

In the second case, the newspaper reported that the authorities seized around 300 kgs of drugs along with industrial mixers and scales in a house.

The newspaper reported that this was the largest seizure of drugs ever in Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday said the seizures were part of a long investigation and resulted in “the largest mass seizure of fentanyl pills ever made”. She further said that the drug seized was worth around $400 million.

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Mexico acts against drugs, immigrants over Trump’s threat

Even as Sheinbaum has made crackdown of drugs central to her agenda since her swearing-in in October, the uptick in crackdown on drugs and illegal immigration is seen as a response to Trump’s threats.

Since October 1 when Sheinbaum took office, the Mexican government has claimed to have seized 58 tons of drugs and arrested more than 5,000 people.

Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexico-based security consultant, told The Times that Trump’s threats “without a doubt have set the wheels spinning”.

Guerrero said, “All of this is being done to arrive at the negotiating table with Trump’s security team with a portfolio of achievements.”

Guerrero said that the crackdown can achieve two goals: “It can help the United States in terms of migration and fentanyl, and at the same time, with those same operations, it could begin to pacify some parts of the country.”

Separately, Reuters reported Mexican authorities as saying on Wednesday that they apprehended over 5,200 migrants across the country the previous day.