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.
On 9/2 CBP Officers at the Nogales POE stopped two loads.
1Approx. 35,000 fentanyl pills in the air intake of a motorcycle
2Approx. 2,300 multi-color fentanyl pills, 15,000 dark blue fentanyl pills, 12,000 traditional blue fentanyl pills and 87.50 pounds of meth in a pickup. pic.twitter.com/vlIZsZ4R2W— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) September 5, 2022
On 9/3, CBP Officers at the Nogales POE seized:
Approx. 47,000 rainbow-colored fentanyl pills, 186,000 blue fentanyl pills, and 6.5 pounds of meth hidden in a floor compartment of a vehicle.
Also on 9/3, CBP officers seized 84 lbs. of meth concealed in the gas tank of a vehicle. pic.twitter.com/9AyjgRYMxJ— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) September 6, 2022
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.
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