Seizures of fentanyl at the US-Mexico border have continued to rise in 2022, with multiple busts setting different records throughout the year.
“A decade ago, we didn’t even know about fentanyl, and now it’s a national crisis,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release in August. “The amount of fentanyl that we are seizing at the border is staggering.”
Grossman’s comments came as the Justice Department revealed that ports of entry in San Diego and Imperial counties in Southern California were at the center of a surge in border seizures of fentanyl, accounting for about 60% of seizures of the deadly drug in 2022.
However, that increase has been seen in ports across the border, with law enforcement agencies on both the Mexican and US sides making record seizures in 2022. These are just a few of the fentanyl seizures at the border that made headlines in 2022.
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY MADE SEVERAL RECORD ARRESTS FOR FENTANYL IN 2022
A US Border Patrol agent stands on a cliff looking for migrants who crossed the US-Mexico border wall near the town of Sasabe, Arizona.
(Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Border Patrol agents find three gallons of liquid fentanyl at a border checkpoint in Texas
Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez announced earlier this month that Border Patrol agents in the sector had made the “largest” seizure of liquid fentanyl in history. from United States.
“Fentanyl Bust! Extremely proud of our USBP agents and @NuecesCoSo [Nueces County Sheriff’s Office] authorities working together, intercepted and seized the largest amount of liquid #fentanyl in US history at a traffic stop in Robstown, Texas,” Chavez said on Twitter.
Chavez detailed the raid in subsequent posts, saying agents found 25 pounds, or three gallons, of liquid fentanyl hidden in a compartment inside a gas tank and the sale value of the seizure was $1.8 million.
“This lethal amount is enough to kill a population of 5.665 million people, which is 2 1/2 times the size of Houston, Texas,” Chavez added.
Arizona border agents seize 1.5 million fentanyl pills in a single week
Border officials at the Nogales Arizona port of entry seized 1.5 million fentanyl pills in a single week, according to an announcement by port director Michael Humphries earlier this month.
“The pills included blue, multicolor and rainbow,” Humphries said on Twitter.
Arizona border agents seized more than 1.5 million fentanyl pills over the course of several days.
(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
ARIZONA BORDER OFFICIALS ACCOMPANY 1.5 MILLION FENTANYL TABLETS OVER THE PAST WEEK
Humphries said the smugglers tried a variety of ways to hide the pills as they crossed the border, including hiding them in gas tanks, floors, doors and vehicle panels.
The port of Noglaes seizes 500,000 fentanyl pills in a weekend
The same Arizona port that saw more than a million pills in a week set an even faster pace on an October weekend, seizing roughly 500,000 fentanyl pills in two days.
Humprhies announced on Twitter that agents at the port stopped three loads of fentanyl on October 22, including one load with 114,800 pills on a dashboard and 297,000 pills hidden in a single car.
Fentanyl seized in Nogales, Arizona.
(CBP)
Agents returned to the charge the next day when they stopped two shipments of fentanyl pills from smugglers trying to cross the border, including 134,200 pills found on the running boards of a car.
ARIZONA PORT OF ENTRY TAKES OVER 500,000 FENTANYL PILLS IN A SINGLE WEEKEND
ICE announces ‘record’ seizure of fentanyl and methamphetamine in California port
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in October that Carlos Martín Quintana-Arias, a Mexican citizen, had been sentenced to 108 months in prison after agents conducted an unprecedented fentanyl and methamphetamine raid at the port of entry in Mexico. Otay Mesa in California.
“This was a brazen attempt to smuggle a record amount of deadly narcotics into our country, and as this ruling reflects, those seeking to make a quick profit from narcotics smuggling will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted,” Chad Plantz, Special Agent in Charge . , HSI San Diego, said in an ICE press release announcing the sentence. “HSI, along with our federal and local partners, is firmly committed to dismantling criminal organizations that blatantly ignore the laws of this nation.”
According to the press release, Quintana-Arias used a commercial trailer in an attempt to smuggle 17,584 pounds of methamphetamine and 388.93 pounds of fentanyl across the border, “the largest in the country in each drug category for calendar years 2021 and 2022 so far.”
“This massive seizure prevented a large quantity of deadly drugs from saturating our community,” US Attorney Randy Grossman said in the statement. “Thanks to the vigilance of border officials, this fentanyl didn’t kill anyone, and this methamphetamine didn’t destroy a single life.”
MEXICAN POLICE SEIZES OVER 600 POUNDS OF FENTANYL-FILLED COCONUTS FROM TRUCK NEAR BORDER
Mexican Police Conduct Massive Raid of US-Bound Fentanyl Hidden in Coconuts
Fentanyl found in coconuts by Mexican police near the US border.
(RGF)
Mexican police, conducting a traffic stop in the northern border state of Sonora, found 660 pounds of fentanyl packed into coconuts that they believe were headed for the US border.
The agents stopped the truck that was driving on a highway that borders the Gulf of California. That road eventually leads to the Mexican city of Sonoyta, a border town located near Lukeville, Arizona.
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Two people were arrested in connection with the bust.
