Homeland Safety seizes 900 kilos of fentanyl in a single week at border


The Division of Homeland Safety seized 900 kilos of fentanyl on the southern border within the first week of its new initiative to crack down on the lethal artificial opioid.

The drug seizure was one of many largest made in a single week lately by Customs and Border Safety officers and happened after the launch of Homeland Safety’s Operation Blue Lotus on March 13.

Seven hundred kilos of methamphetamine and over 100 kilos of cocaine have been additionally seized, based on DHS. The operation deployed further canine models and superior know-how to conduct 18 seizures, 16 federal arrests and two state arrests.

The transfer was a part of “a multi-pronged technique” by the Biden administration “to fight the scourge of fentanyl,” Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

“Prior to now two years, DHS has seized extra fentanyl than the earlier 5 years mixed. However we should do extra,” Mayorkas stated. “Operation Blue Lotus is a DHS-led, coordinated surge effort to curtail the stream of illicit fentanyl smuggled into america from Mexico and produce to justice the harmful felony organizations cashing in on the unlawful manufacturing, distribution, and sale of this harmful substance.”


“Prior to now two years, DHS has seized extra fentanyl than the earlier 5 years mixed,” stated Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
AFP through Getty Photos

The Department of Homeland Security seized 900 pounds of fentanyl on the southern border in the first week of Operation Blue Lotus.
The Division of Homeland Safety seized 900 kilos of fentanyl on the southern border within the first week of Operation Blue Lotus.
AP

Critics have pointed to President Biden’s permissive border coverage for permitting fentanyl to stream freely into the US, prompting some Republican lawmakers to name for a army response towards the harmful drug cartels in Mexico.

“These narco-terrorist teams are extra like ISIS than just like the American mafia,” former Legal professional Normal Invoice Barr stated this month in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “The true query is whether or not we’re keen to go after them as we’d a terrorist group.”

Lawmakers together with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) have floated payments to that finish, urging Biden to label the cartels as “overseas terrorist organizations.”


Critics have faulted President Biden for having a permissive border policy.
Critics have faulted President Biden for having a permissive border coverage.
MediaPunch / BACKGRID

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Los Angeles Field Division, shows some of the seized approximately 1 million fake pills containing fentanyl that were seized when agents served a search warrant, July 5, 2022, at a home in Inglewood, Calif. Heading into key elections, there have been assertions that the drug might be handed out like Halloween candy, something the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's head has said isn't true. And some candidates for elected office frame the crisis as mostly a border-control issue, though experts say the key to reining in the crisis is reducing demand for the drugs. (Drug Enforcement Administration via AP, File)
Drug overdoses killed greater than 106,000 People in 2021, based on NIH.
AP

Drug overdoses killed greater than 106,000 People in 2021, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported — with nearly two-thirds of the deaths attributable to non-methadone artificial opioids like fentanyl.

Barr famous the fatalities are increased than “the variety of People killed in motion in the course of the bloodiest yr of World Warfare II.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated final week that the overdoses occur because US families don’t hug their kids enough.

“There may be loads of disintegration of households, there may be loads of individualism, there’s a lack of affection, of brotherhood, of hugs and embraces,” he stated.


Officials seized 575 pounds of fentanyl on average each week during February.
Officers seized 575 kilos of fentanyl on common every week throughout February.
Twitter / @CBPPortDirNOG

CBP has seized around 11,000 pounds of fentanyl since the start of the 2023 fiscal year.
CBP has seized round 11,000 kilos of fentanyl because the begin of the 2023 fiscal yr.
AP

CBP announced a record-breaking seizure in late February after officers found greater than $1 million price of the extremely deadly drug that had been hid in a pickup truck’s fuel tank.

“CBP is on the frontline of stopping fentanyl and different unlawful narcotics which can be primarily trafficked by Ports of Entry,” Appearing Commissioner Troy Miller stated in a Tuesday assertion. “Our devoted personnel are already seizing document quantities of fentanyl, and we proceed to make the interdiction of cross-border smuggling considered one of our prime priorities.” 

Officers seized 575 kilos of fentanyl on common every week throughout February earlier than the launch of Operation Blue Lotus.

Because the begin of the 2023 fiscal yr, CBP has seized round 11,000 kilos of fentanyl — a fifth of which was taken in February alone.

Almost 15,000 kilos of fentanyl have been seized within the earlier fiscal yr, and 11,200 within the yr earlier than that.



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