MEXICO CITY – In what officials are calling the largest fentanyl seizure in Mexico’s history, authorities have confiscated more than a ton of fentanyl pills in Sinaloa. Public Safety Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch announced the milestone on social media, sharing that two coordinated raids late Tuesday led to the massive haul. By Thursday, Harfuch also confirmed the arrest of Adrián Cebreros Pereyra, alias “El Gallero,” a suspected member of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexico’s top security official said soldiers and marines spotted two men carrying guns in Sinaloa. They chased the men, who ran into two houses. In one house soldiers found about 660 pounds of fentanyl, and in the other a truck packed with about 1,750 pounds of the synthetic opioid.
“With intelligence and research, in the Cabinet of Security we coordinated in Sinaloa a historic confiscation of fentanyl, which makes young people and their families safe from being exposed to the substance,” Harfuch wrote on Facebook.
This record-breaking seizure comes just days after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump proposed a 25% tariff on products from Mexico and Canada, citing concerns over drug trafficking and border security. The timing of the bust has raised questions among some analysts.
“It is clear that the Mexican government has been managing the timing of fentanyl seizures,” security analyst David Saucedo told The Associated Press. “But under the pressure by Donald Trump, it appears President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration is willing to increase the capture of drug traffickers and drug seizures that Washington is demanding.”
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin, has become a primary driver of overdose deaths in the U.S., with as little as two milligrams capable of killing an adult, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
