National Security

Border Authorities Seize Nearly 300,000 Fentanyl Pills In Just Two Days

Twitter//Port Director Michael W. Humphries

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Jennie Taer Investigative Reporter
Font Size:

Authorities at the Arizona border seized nearly 300,000 fentanyl pills in the span of two days.

The seizures, which took place on Friday and Saturday, included approximately 297,300 fentanyl pills of different varieties, including around 47,000 “rainbow” pills, according to a series of tweets posted by the Nogales, Arizona, Port Director Michael W. Humphries. (RELATED: Texas Authorities Stop Smugglers From Flying Charter Plane Of Illegal Migrants To Houston)

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently warned that drug cartels are using the candy-colored pills to entice children, according to a statement the agency shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Rainbow fentanyl—fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes—is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in the statement.

The fentanyl pills were found in a motorcycle, a pickup truck and under the floor of a vehicle in three separate vehicle stops, according to Humphries.

The two seizures follow an Aug. 29 incident, where Customs officials confiscated four pounds of fentanyl, which could’ve potentially killed roughly 1.5 million people, according to the DEA’s metric that states one kilogram of fentanyl is likely 500,000 lethal doses. The drug load also included around 625,000 fentanyl pills, 12,000 of which were rainbow.

Fentanyl is largely created in clandestine labs in Mexico with chemicals sourced from China, according to the DEA. Southern border authorities have seized nearly 10,600 pounds of fentanyl between October and July, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.