Sinaloa Cartel Remains Key Player in Fentanyl Export Business to US

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With its leadership arrested or on the run, the Sinaloa cartel’s powerful influence and stronghold in Mexico and the United States has been diminishing, but it’s certainly not out of the fentanyl business, according to an investigative report by the New York Times.

According to reporters Paulina Villegas and Maria Abi-Habib, cartel members are adapting by shifting to smaller loads, “devising creative methods and adjusting in real time to changing threats — showing how extraordinarily difficult it would be for any government to dismantle such an entrenched criminal organization.”

The article provides in great detail how a mechanic-turned-drug-packer-by-night “sprayed six aluminum-wrapped packets with a liquid that smelled like chlorine, a compound that he said would help disguise fentanyl from search dogs. Underneath the foil, the deadly drug was wrapped in carbon paper to try to avoid basic methods of X-ray detection.”

The New York Times’ reporters interviewed five cartel operatives who spoke on condition of anonymity because they would otherwise be subject to arrest or danger.

The Times’ reporting included documenting how fentanyl packages were hidden in cars in the city of Culiacán, in western Mexico, and driven to the United States under “a meticulously choreographed operation” using guides and lookouts to avoid checkpoints and roadblocks all the way to the San Luis Rio Colorado and Nogales ports of entry in Arizona.

The article describes how corrupt U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers allow the cars to gain access into the U.S. for up to $40,000 per smuggling attempt.

CBP told the New York Times’ writers that it refers cases of possible corruption in its ranks to the Justice Department for investigation.

CBP Acting Commissioner Rodney S. Scott said in a statement that “C.B.P. agents and officers risk their lives to defend you every day.”