The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is conducting monitoring flights with drones through Mexico in collaboration with US neighbours in the south to gather information about the cartel and the Fentanyl Institute, according to senior US officials.
The Biden administration has allowed the use of unarmed, “not fatal” MQ9 Reaper drones through Mexico to concentrate on fentanyl lab and cartel locations.
President Donald Trump's administration continued the programme being carried out in collaboration with the Mexican government.
The Intelligence Report is shared with the Mexican government, and the Mexican government has the authority to act in shutting down illegal activities related to cartels and labs.
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Indian Springs, Nevada, November 17: (Editor's note: Images were reviewed by the US military prior to sending.) During a training mission at Creech Air Force Base on November 17th, MQ -9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) flies, 2015, Indian Springs, Nevada. The Pentagon has plans to expand combat air patrol flights with remote pilot aircraft by up to 50% over the coming years to meet the rise in surveillance, reconnaissance and fatal air strikes in more regions around the world . (Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)
“This is not a Pakistani model,” a senior US official told Fox News. “It's done in cooperation with the Mexican government.”
Mexican Criminal Investigation Director Felipe de Jesus Gallo last year said that since the 1990s, “Mexico has been an advocate for methamphetamine production and is now fentanyl.”
He made a statement while speaking at the US Mexico Conference on Synthetics in Mexico City.
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A bundle of blue tablets containing fentanyl intercepted at the border. (US Customs and Border Protection)
Experts agree that Mexican cartels use Chinese and Indian precursor chemicals to create synthetic opioids and smuggle them into the US, causing overdose deaths of around 70,000 people a year.
Fentanyl is not widely abused in Mexico, but methamphetamine addiction is common.
Gallo said the Mexican cartel has begun production of females on an industrial scale in many states across the country, and is now exporting medicines from around the world.
“Trust me, methamphetamine production has become industrialized. It's not just mountains anymore,” Garo said. “We now hope that the (drug) lab will be seen not only in the mountains of Sinaloa and Sonora, but also in Hidalgo, Puebla and Jalisco.”
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Hundreds of pounds of fentanyl and meth arrived in October as officials from the General's Office of Mexican Lawyers arrived at Tijuana's headquarters in Mexico. (Washington Post via Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
He appears to have clearly mentioned the thousands of drug labs where the past thousands of drug labs have been detected in the hills around Kaliacan, the capital of northern Sinaloa, and Scrubrand. These secrets, rural production sites, were improvised labs often covered with bare bones, tree branches and tarpaulins.
Nowadays, meta trade is so advantageous and refined that Mexican meths are exported as far away as Hong Kong and Australia, and the cartels have found ways to avoid detecting drug money.
Fentanyl production is also enormous, but its volume is smaller because it is a more potent drug.
Soldiers seized more than half a million fentanyl tablets in Kaliacan in 2023.
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The soldiers found 630,000 tablets that appear to contain fentanyl, the Army said. They also reported seized allegations of 282 pounds of powdered fentanyl and about 220 pounds of methamphetamine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
