Texas CBP officers seize over $330,000 worth of fentanyl at the Hidalgo International Bridge
A vehicle attempted to enter the United States from Mexico on Wednesday but was selected for inspection, the statement said. Upon inspection, officers found nine packages weighing 22 pounds of suspected fentanyl.
The Hidalgo International Bridge connects the southern border of Texas to Mexico. The case is being investigated by special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations in the United States, the statement said.
An approved pain reliever, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid primarily transported by land across the US-Mexico border. It’s up to 100 times more potent than morphine and can be found in what’s sold as heroin – sometimes taking its place entirely, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Fentanyl can also be mixed with cocaine, methamphetamine and counterfeit street pills sold as opioid drugs.
The spread and sale of fentanyl has led to an increase in overdose deaths in the United States. Synthetic opioids — including fentanyl — were implicated in about two-thirds of drug overdose deaths in the United States in the 12 months ending April 2021, according to data from the Centers for United States Disease Control and Prevention. And three-quarters of cocaine overdose deaths last year were associated with fentanyl, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health.
There are also racial undertones to the fentanyl epidemic, Volkow said. From 2019 to 2021, fentanyl overdose deaths more than tripled among teens and quintupled among black teens, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data produced by the advocacy group Families Against Fentanyl.
In April, the DEA sent a letter to federal, state, and local law enforcement officials warning of a nationwide spike in massive overdose events linked to fentanyl.
“Fentanyl is killing Americans at an unprecedented rate,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “Already this year, numerous mass overdose events have resulted in dozens of overdoses and deaths.”
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