(NewsReady.com) – Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has just provided dramatic evidence of why we need better security at our borders. In just one week, agents in California seized more than a ton of drugs from smugglers. The haul included enough fentanyl to kill over 50 million people.
On February 29, the San Diego Field Office of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a statement about its recent anti-narcotics operations. From February 19 to February 25 the CBP took part in Operation Apollo, a joint operation between federal, state, and local agencies in the southwest that targeted fentanyl, the main culprit in the US epidemic of fatal opioid overdoses. It’s been running since last November. In one week in late February, San Diego CBP agents intercepted 554 pounds of cocaine, 1,650 pounds of methamphetamine, and 229 pounds of fentanyl at ports of entry. A kilogram of fentanyl can kill 500,000 people; the quantity CBP seized could cause 52 million fatal overdoses. One seizure alone yielded almost ten pounds of fentanyl with a $130,000 street value; it was brought in from Mexico by a US citizen sharing a taxi with three other passengers.
According to the statement, the drugs were seized in 42 separate incidents and had a total value of almost $9.2 million. That’s an average of six attempts a day, just for one field office. The suspects arrested in these incidents were turned over to Homeland Security Investigations. Operation Apollo aims to reduce this massive flow of drugs by combining the efforts of all levels of US law enforcement, along with working with Mexican agencies. As last month’s drug seizures show, it’s having a significant impact, but a lot of drugs are still making it through, and Americans are still dying of overdoses.
The Biden Administration says it’s working on the problem, but an insecure border is an irresistible temptation to Mexico’s powerful drug cartels.
Copyright 2024, NewsReady.com
