Mexico announces major meth seizure in cartel heartland amid pressure from Trump to curb drug trafficking | Global News Avenue

Mexico announced on Monday that it has seized 440 pounds of methamphetamine in the heart of the cartel President Donald Trump’s pressure Solve drug trafficking.

The discovery was made during the weekend operation to remove illegal drug laboratories in Northwest State Sinaloathe government statement said.

It said the captured drug was worth nearly $40 million, adding that 3,170 gallons of chemical precursors were confiscated to make methamphetamine.

Latin American countries have announced a series of major drug discoveries in recent weeks, apparently trying to highlight efforts to combat drug smuggling.

Trump cited the illegal movement of the deadly opioid fentanyl as one of the reasons for the 25% tariff on Mexican goods.

he Shelved trade tax One month, until early March, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to deploy 10,000 soldiers to the country’s shared borders in response to smuggling.

The government said that when the deployment began on February 5, Mexican authorities occupied 4.9 tons of methamphetamine, 453 kilograms of cocaine, 55 kilograms of fentanyl and 489 guns.

Last month, the Mexican government announced that it had seized 18 kg fentanyl Hidden on the bus, the government announced the so-called “The biggest fentanyl seizure in history”,” Total more than one million pills.

Synthetic opioids are 50 times more effective than heroin, and are associated with thousands of overdose deaths in the United States.

According to U.S. authorities, Mexico is one of the main trafficking routes for the drug and the main channel for the production of chemicals, most of which come from China.

this US Drug Enforcement Agency Saying that Mexican cartels are the “core” of a synthetic narcotic crisis in the United States. It said in its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment of 2024 that the powerful Sinaloa cartel “rules the fentanyl market by manipulating global supply chains and the proliferation of secret fentanyl labs.”

But Sheinbaum said Authorities found no evidence The fentanyl is being produced in the country.

Last week, Sheinbaum Warn American gunmen If Washington designates the Mexican drug cartel as a terrorist organization, they could face new legal actions and be seen as associates.

“If they declare these criminals terrorists, then we will have to expand the U.S. lawsuit,” Sheinbaum said in a daily press conference.

She said the new allegations could include alleged “complicity” with the terrorist group’s gunmaker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.