U.S. agents in southern Arizona said Thursday they seized up to 440 pounds (about 200 kilograms) of what they suspect is a precursor chemical often used to manufacture the dangerous drug fentanyl, a chilling sign that producers may be moving to manufacture the deadly synthetic opioid on American soil.
\nThe powdered chemical was being transported by agents Thursday morning from a residence and warehouse in Tucson, where it had been sent in recent months in a series of suspicious packages from China that did not identify their contents, said Leo Lamas, the deputy special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in Tucson.
\nThere were no immediate reports of arrests after agents with federal search warrants entered the locations and found no people inside.
\n\u201cIf criminal entrepreneurs start producing fentanyl here, it could become a frightening situation for the United States,\u201d said Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration. \u201cIf the chemicals do turn out to be precursors, this could really aggravate fentanyl distribution and overdoses.\u201d
\nLamas said the agency launched the investigation several months ago after learning suspicious packages containing the chemical, which he did not name, were being shipped to the two locations from China. DEA agents and Tucson police provided important support, he said.
\nHe said the agency was still investigating who was involved in shipping and storing the chemicals and did not yet know if they were part of a local crime group or an international drug organization.
\nIf further investigation shows that the chemicals were destined for fentanyl production, Thursday\u2019s seizure could mark a new model for how it is manufactured, making it more readily available to consumers in the United States.
\nAlready, the DEA calls fentanyl the deadliest drug in the nation. Two-thirds of the 107,000 overdose deaths in the country in 2021 were attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
\nOriginally developed as a legal drug to treat intense pain from ailments including cancer, Mexican drug cartels in recent years have produced most of the illegal fentanyl seen in the U.S., smuggling it inside vehicles or strapped to pedestrians crossing at ports of entry along the international border.
\n\u201cI consider fentanyl to probably be the most dangerous controlled substance we\u2019ve ever had to deal with,\u201d said Lamas.
\nThe drug is sold in various forms, including blue pills designed to look like oxycodone, known locally in southern Arizona as \u201cMexican oxy.\u201d In its powder form, fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs like heroin or methamphetamine.
\nBut investigators in recent months have seen incipient signs that producers may be trying to make fentanyl inside the U.S., said Lamas.
\n\u201cOver the last, I would say a year or so, we have started to uncover pill presses domestically in the United States,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cCertainly, these criminal organizations know that the emphasis is at the border,\u201d Lamas said of interdiction efforts. Importing precursors from China and producing fentanyl domestically would be \u201cjust another mechanism that these criminal organizations will attempt to get their products sold in the United States,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n