On Friday, the President of Mexico stated that his country would send China with evidence of illegal fentanyl shipments from China to Mexican drug cartels. This statement came after China denied that any such smuggling was taking place.
It was recently discovered that the synthetic opioid responsible for hundreds of daily overdose deaths in the United States was shipped to Mexico from China in a container that was intercepted in the Pacific port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stated.
“We already have the evidence,” said Lopez Obrador.
Obrador wrote to Xi Jinping back in March, requesting assistance in reducing the influx of fentanyl.
In response, the Chinese foreign ministry asserted that no fentanyl was being illegally transported between China and Mexico.
On Friday, Obrador told reporters that he would be sending the same appeal for assistance to Beijing.
“In a very respectful manner, we are going to send this information to reiterate the request that they help us,” he said during the press conference.
BBC reported:
Mexican Navy Secretary Rafael Ojeda said the container intercepted in Lázaro Cárdenas had packages weighing 34-35kg (75 pounds) with traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine hidden in fuel resin. The cargo had left the Chinese city of Qingdao and passed through Busan in South Korea before reaching Mexico.
Fentanyl is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin. The US Drug Enforcement Administration says 67% of the 107,375 US deaths from drug overdoses or poisonings in 2021 were linked to fentanyl or similar opioids. Fentanyl is linked to more deaths of Americans under 50 than any other cause, the DEA says.
The US authorities blame Mexican drug gangs for supplying fentanyl to users across the US. Last month three sons of drugs kingpin “El Chapo” – members of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel – were charged in the United States with fentanyl trafficking, but only one of them is in custody. Their father Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is serving a life sentence in the US.
President López Obrador has said fentanyl is not produced in Mexico but bought by the drugs gangs from suppliers in Asia.
Last month Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said “there is no such thing as illegal trafficking of fentanyl between China and Mexico”.
“China has not been notified by Mexico on the seizure of scheduled fentanyl precursors from China,” she said. Drugs listed in schedules are subject to various official restrictions.
Mao Ning said the widespread fentanyl abuse in the US was a problem “completely ‘made in USA’”.
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