Fentanyl shipment capable of killing 50 million people seized in California

Border Patrol and local law enforcement agents arrested three individuals in California who had successfully smuggled 232 pounds of fentanyl into the country. The market value of the seized drug amounts to three million dollars and could potentially kill more than 50 million people.

This was announced on his Twitter account by Raul Ortiz, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, accompanied by an image of the bags of fentanyl intercepted. The officer stressed in his publication that "we continue to take the fight to the cartels and drug traffickers."

Investigation into how the fentanyl crossed the border

According to Bill Melugin, Fox's Los Angeles correspondent, the arrest occurred when the vehicle in which the traffickers were traveling was stationary at a traffic stop in Orange County, 75 miles from the U.S. border. "This highlights the fact this fentanyl had already made it into the U.S. either via a missed vehicle at a CBP port of entry, or by being backpacked into the U.S. by drug mules, then smuggled further by vehicle," the journalist summarized.

Third major drug bust in two weeks

This is not an isolated event. Mellugin noted that this is the third seizure of a significant quantity of this drug on the southwest border of the country in a very short period of time. In the last two weeks, Border Patrol agents seized 93 pounds of this opiate in Yuma, Arizona, and another 24 pounds in the Nogales Desert, also in the Grand Canyon State.

In his personal account of the situation, Chief Ortiz highlighted that, in the last 72 hours, Border Patrol made 13,400 apprehensions of illegal immigrants in which, 248 pounds of marijuana, 52 pounds of cocaine and 1 firearm were seized. In addition to these seizures, there was also the arrest of 3 persons charged with sexual offenses, 2 MS-13 members, two murderers and another person accused of homicide.