Kerry Breen<\/p>\n
contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n<\/section>\n
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Mexico’s government said Thursday it had seized 14 million doses of fentanyl, the latest major haul in a drive to stem the flow of the powerful opioid into the United States.<\/p>\n
The Public Security ministry said the drugs were found during raids on a clandestine drug laboratory and warehouse in the municipality of Villa de Alvarez in violence-hit western Colima state.<\/p>\n
At the warehouse, police found “approximately 270 kilograms of a substance with characteristics similar to fentanyl, both in powder and pill form,” which the ministry said was equivalent to about 14 million doses.<\/p>\n
It said six people were arrested but did not say when the operation took place nor give the estimated street value of the drugs.<\/p>\n
It was not a record for fentanyl hauls, officials told AFP, pointing to a 2024 operation that yielded a ton more of the drug.<\/p>\n
The raids come as President Trump ramps up his criticism of Mexico’s record on fighting drug trafficking, despite the recent capture and killing of a notorious drug lord<\/span>. <\/p>\n At a summit with right-wing Latin American leaders in Florida last weekend, where he launched a 17-country Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, Mr. Trump declared<\/span> that cartels were “running Mexico” and vowed to “eradicate them.”<\/p>\n In December, he classified fentanyl, a powerful painkiller responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States each year, as a “weapon of mass destruction,” placing it in the same category as nuclear and chemical weapons.<\/p>\n Mexico’s left-wing President Claudia Sheinbaum argues that U.S. weapons are fuellng cartel activities and called on Washington to halt the flow of guns south across the border.<\/p>\n Mexican authorities regularly find and raid clandestine laboratories. About two weeks ago, naval personnel discovered a hidden drug laboratory in the country’s Durango region and discovered over 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine.<\/p>\n Over just a few days in January,\u00a0four laboratories<\/span>\u00a0were raided. In one, also in the Durango region, a land patrol found a huge stock of chemical precursors. In Sinaloa, the home of the\u00a0notorious cartel<\/span>\u00a0that shares the region’s name, authorities seized over 1,650 pounds of meth and another stockpile of precursors. More chemical precursors and laboratory equipment was found in\u00a0Michoac\u00e1n<\/span>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Mexico has been\u00a0wracked by violence<\/span>\u00a0in recent weeks after a military operation led to the death of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Rub\u00e9n Oseguera Cervantes, or “El Mencho<\/span>.” The operation took place in the western state of Jalisco, which is known as the cartel’s base. During a shoot-out, Oseguera Cervantes was injured. He died while being transported to Mexico City.\u00a0<\/p>\n