Recent News
Luis Ernesto Quintana Barney
(CNN Spanish) – A shipment of about 300 kilograms of fentanyl hidden inside coconuts was seized this Thursday on a highway in the Mexican state of Sonora, the state’s Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) reported in a statement.
The coconuts were on board a truck near Puerto Libertad, a city about 155 miles by car northwest of Hermosillo.
The SSP indicated that the drug, the vehicle and two people on board “were made available to the Public Ministry to carry out the corresponding investigations.”
New York City reports largest fentanyl seizure in history
Credit: SSP Sonora
CNN is seeking more details about the seizure and the detainees’ legal situation with the Secretary of Security and the Attorney General’s Office.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fentanyl is “a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.”
The United States is facing a fentanyl overdose epidemic
Currently, synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, are “the most common drugs associated with overdose deaths in the United States,” according to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
In his statement, the SSP said that “this seizure is a blow to those who want to enrich themselves at the expense of the health and lives of our society,” although he did not detail the monetary value of the confiscated shipment.
Very CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.