Mexico adds 31 and a half tons of drugs seized in 2022

In just over two months of 2022, Mexican authorities have seized 31 and a half tons of various narcotics in coordinated racking by cartels that have set up in the criminal business.

From February 21 to March 16, the federal forces counted more than 5,000 kilograms of drugs throughout the territory, which is in addition to the 26,485 kilos reported by the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena).

In addition, 3,144 hectares of poppy have been eradicated this year, as well as 92 hectares of marijuana in the same period. But barely five dismantled drug laboratories accumulate, so the production of synthetic narcotic drugs has not been affected.

There is no indication of which criminal groups the assurances were made to or in which areas there are major seizures, but previous reports from US agencies, as well as from the Mexican administration indicate that the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) are the highest traffickers in Mexico.

Methamphetamine is the synthetic substance with the highest insured quantities, since at the beginning of the year 984 kilos were seized, then there were an additional 11,778 kilos and to date 3,014 kilos were added, thus accumulating 15,776 kilos.

727 kg of marijuana had been insured from the first to the 20th of January last, but later, the authorities managed to seize 5,502 kilos more, although the insurance fell to 1,611 kilos in the last three weeks. Of the enervating they total 7 thousand 840 kg in this 2022.

The 136 kilos of cocaine seized in the first period of 2022 were added to the 4,981 kilos insured until February 20, in addition to 929 kg intercepted at customs. Compared to the most recent record, only 206 kilos were counted more. So far there are 6.04 tons seized.

With regard to heroin, only seven kilos had been seized, which was combined with 53 kg in the middle of last month, but since then they have only added three kilograms more, that is, 63 kg in total so far this year.

Fentanyl continues to increase insurance, as it is faster to manufacture and easier to transport to streets in the United States, where the synthetic opioid has generated a public health crisis since 2017 and tens of thousands of overdose deaths, because it is also mixed with others substances or sold in counterfeit pills.

It is often distributed in blue pills, of which 47 kilos had been seized on 20 days of the year, but from that date the amount increased fivefold with 116 kg more, and in just 24 days 195 kilos were insured. Hence, in two months and measured from 2022 there are 358 kilos of this drug.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a public safety alert in September 2021 about this narcotic. As a prescription analgesic, it can reduce pain, but it can also cause addiction or overdose due to its potency and quantity consumed, for example, 33 kilograms of the drug could cause the death of more than 10 million people, according to the DEA.

In addition to these assurances in the fight against drug trafficking, there are 2,346 land vehicles made available to ministerial authorities; as well as 1,571 firearms, 913,820 US dollars; 7,595,364 pesos, ten boats and five aircraft.

But during that period, there was also the largest confiscation in history in terms of ammunition, as Sedena coordinated the operation to find safe houses in Sonora, where there were more than three million cartridges. This arsenal was acquired in the United States by the Salazars, who are subordinate to the Chapitos and/or the Minors.

According to official information, of the 333,516 troops of the Armed Forces deployed in Mexico, 238,112 are operational personnel. Half of the latter are attached to the Army. With all this, little damage has been achieved to the CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel.

Although the most important coup was combined last weekend with the arrest of Juan Gerardo Treviño Chávez, el Huevo, heir to the Zetas and top leader of the Northeast Cartel, who will face his trial in a court in San Antonio, Texas, where he was deported following his arrest that caused a night of narcoterror in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

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