9-4-19 China’s vast chemical and pharmaceutical industry continues to be a source of illicit fentanyl. Of around 5,000 pharmaceutical manufacturers, regulators in China only actively monitor a small fraction, according to research by the Rand Corporation think tank.
As InSight Crime reported in a detailed investigation done in collaboration with the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación — CJNG) — Mexico’s most powerful criminal groups — are largely responsible for importing and producing illicit fentanyl and its precursors.
The port of Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacán, where the latest seizure took place, is one of the key entry points for these products into the country. This is also one of the ports that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently said was under the control of organized crime groups. https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/china-fentanyl-ban-yet-to-hamper-mexico-crime-groups/
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2-19-19
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2-12-19 An estimated 160,000 chemical companies are currently operating either legally or illegally in China, according to the US Department of State. China’s chemical industry suffers from poor regulation, thus allowing fentanyl precursor chemicals to be diverted into clandestine labs by criminal groups, the US State Department says. A lack of oversight paired with administrative inefficiencies has also allowed illegal chemical factories to spring up and manufacture significant quantities of precursors that make their way directly to the US or via Mexico, where criminal groups are also quickly adapting to new market….
In China in February 2018, newly created controls on five fentanyl precursors including ANPP went into effect. https://www.insightcrime.org/investigations/china-fentanyl-production-adaptability/
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2-12-19 China produces nearly all of the fentanyl,
fentanyl analogues, and fentanyl precursors in the
world, although India—with its large chemical
infrastructure—appears poised to make an entry into
the market, and Mexican traffickers are starting to
produce it as well using precursors obtained mostly in
China.
Mexico is a growing transit and production point for
fentanyl, with most of the product entering via the
ports of Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas.
Legacy criminal organizations with experience
importing chemicals for methamphetamine production
from Asia seem to be the best-positioned to take
advantage of this surge in fentanyl use.
Mexico’s government does not see fentanyl as an
important issue yet and has not devoted significant
resources towards finding the principal drivers of the
trade inside its borders.
investigations/fentanyl-summary-major-findings/
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12-23-2011 MEXICO CITY — Mexico said Friday that
it seized 229 metric tons of precursor chemicals used to
make methamphetamine, the third such huge seizure
this month at the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas, all of
which were bound for a port in Guatemala.
The seizure bringing to over 534 tons the amount of meth chemicals detected at Lazaro Cardenas in less than a month. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-mexico-seizes-229-tons-of-precursor-chemicals-2011dec23-story.html
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1-18-2012 The Mexican navy says it has seized 195 tonnes of chemicals which can be used to make the drug methamphetamine.
The navy found 12 shipping containers full of the precursor chemical in the Pacific coast port of Lazaro Cardenas.
They said the chemical had been shipped from China and was destined for Guatemala and Nicaragua.
The authorities said that Mexican drug cartels have been expanding their methamphetamine operations to Guatemala. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-16605690
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5-14-2012 Officials in Mexico seized another 136 tons of precursor chemicals originating from China https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/mexico-seizes-136-tons-of-meth-precursors/
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10-11-2012 The marketing format follows a well-established pattern. By simultaneously increasing the purity and cutting the price, the cartels get people hooked and create a new customer base. ’They’re marketing geniuses,' said Jack Riley, the agent in charge of the DEA office in Chicago.
the other side of the border—seizures of labs and chemicals have increased nearly 1,000 percent in the past two years.
Last year, Mexican authorities made two major busts in the quiet central state of Queretaro, seizing nearly 500 tons of precursor chemicals and 3.4 tons of pure meth with a street value of more than $100 million. In Sinaloa, investigators found a sophisticated underground lab equipped with an elevator and ventilation systems as well as cooking and sleeping facilities. The facility was reachable only by a nearly 100-foot tunnel with its opening concealed under a tractor shed.
And in February, soldiers in western Mexico made a historic seizure: 15 tons of pure methamphetamine, a haul that could have supplied 13 million doses worth more than $4 billion.
The meth problem is spilling into other parts of Latin America too. In December and January, Mexican authorities seized nearly 900 tons of precursor chemicals at Mexican ports, almost all of it bound for Guatemala, which seized about 1,600 tons of meth precursors in 2011 - four times the 400 tons seized there a year earlier. https://www.trentonian.com/ap-impact-cartels-flood-us-with-cheap-meth/article_8427f755-7fd6-54b8-843f-a5a6e94f20d2.html
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Mexican government authorities reported a seizure of approximately 25.75 tons of powdered fentanyl in the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas, in the western Mexican state of Michoacán — and it came from China.
The Secretariat of the Navy of Mexico intercepted the fentanyl shipment which originated from Shanghai, China and was bound for the Sinaloa Cartel home base of Culiacán, Sinaloa, as reported by local media outlet Tobasco Hoy on Saturday.
Investigators discovered the fentanyl aboard a Danish vessel in a cargo container whose manifest indicated a shipment of calcium chloride. https://americanmilitarynews.com/2019/08/mexican-navy-seizes-25-tons-of-fentanyl-from-china-in-single-raid/
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12-6-2019 Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas—A total of 575 tons of chemical precursors have been seized this month in Mexico, officials said.
Shipments of 205 tons and 100 tons, respectively, bound from China for Guatemala were seized earlier this month at the same Pacific port.
Mexico’s biggest-ever seizure of drug precursor chemicals was the confiscation of 839 tons in July at a warehouse in the central city of Queretaro, a bust that topped the previous record of 200 tons of precursors discovered last year at the port of Manzanillo.
Mexico, which produces most of the crystal meth consumed in the United States, has imposed tight restrictions on the import of chemicals used to make illegal synthetic drugs.
“The containers came from the Port of Shanghai, China, and had a final destination of Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala,” the agencies said. More than 1,300 tons of drug precursors have been confiscated this year by customs officials. http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=457047&CategoryId=14091
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Feb 5, 2019 Americans spend more on prescription drugs — average costs are about $1,200 per person per year…. In the U.S., patients directly pay about 14 percent of prescription medicine costs out of their own pockets. https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/drug-prices
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