Mexican Troops Sieze 140 LBS of Fentanyl Near US Border

MEXICO CITY -- Soldiers in northern Mexico say they have seized a surprisingly large stash of the powerful opioid fentanyl from a truck near the U.S. border.

The Mexican Army's Second Military Zone said late Monday that soldiers at a highway checkpoint found over 140 pounds of Fentanyl on Saturday packed in plastic-wrapped bricks hidden behind sheet metal in the insulated floor of a truck trailer.

Soldiers also found three bags containing almost 30,000 pills, apparently also containing fentanyl. The driver and a youth accompanying him were detained.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says fentanyl can be 50 times more potent than heroin.

Kilos of Taped Heroin Bricks Inside the Trucks Rear Doors

The army said the truck was heading from Mexico City to Tijuana when it was stopped at checkpoint in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora near Yuma, Arizona.

To put Saturday's seizure in perspective, the Mexican Defense Department ( SEDENA) said that in the previous 4½ years, its total seizures of Fentanyl had amounted to 106 pounds and about 36,000 Fentanyl pills.

Another truck was found further west along the border carrying 60.6 pounds (28 Kilos) of heroin. That

tractor trailer was on the mountainous La Rumorosa Grade just south of the US / Mexico Border between Tecate and Mexicali, Baja Ca.

Joint work between the State and Federal Police Forces were involved and one man detained.

While opium poppies are grown in Mexico, Fentanyl is often imported from China and smuggled into the United States. However, more and more clandestine labs are producing Fentanyl on Mexican soil with precursor chemicals.

Precursor Chemicals for Fentanyl and Methamphetamine Production