Mexico and the US will meet in Washington in April to discuss fentanyl and arms trafficking, according to the Mexican Foreign Ministry

() — Officials from Mexico and the United States will meet in Washington in April to discuss bilateral cooperation in the fight against fentanyl and arms trafficking between the two countries, says Mexico’s Foreign Secretary.

“I had a phone conversation with Secretary Antony Blinken about our upcoming Bicentennial Accord meeting in Washington. The main topic is anti-fentanyl and guns cooperation between the two countries,” Ebrard tweeted Tuesday.

A day earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico said in a statement citing the foreign minister, “in April there will be a meeting in Washington between the two security cabinets of both countries to identify additional steps in cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking. fentanyl and guns.”

In the same statement, Mexico said that there is no documentation that fentanyl is produced in the country, but that the chemical precursors arrive in Mexico from other countries where they are later processed.

“The national security authorities have no record of fentanyl production in Mexico, but they locate our country as a trafficking area for this opioid and its precursors, which come mainly from Asia,” the statement read.

According to the DEA, Mexican transnational criminal organizations are producing increasing quantities of fentanyl and illicit tablets containing it, some using clandestine laboratories and increasingly sophisticated processing methods.

“The DEA, in collaboration with Mexican officials, has seized and dismantled numerous fentanyl pill pressing operations and fentanyl synthesis laboratories in 2018 and 2019, highlighting the role TCOs play in supplying the US market. of fentanyl”. Fentanyl is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border in low-concentration, high-volume loads, with kilogram seizures often containing less than a 10 percent concentration of fentanyl,” the US intelligence report read. DEA.

According to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) of Mexico, from December 2018 to March 2023, 6,115 kilograms of fentanyl have been seized, which represents an increase of 1,049% compared to the previous administration in which it was found. fentanyl from 2014 to 2018.

Also, this Tuesday, the Secretariat of National Defense of Mexico announced the seizure of more than 1.8 million pills of possible fentanyl in Tijuana, Baja California.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the current administration of Mexico is focused on increasing the supervision and surveillance mechanisms for controlled substances, including fentanyl, through the deployment of the military in land and sea ports, as well as in customs centers and throughout the territory. national.