Washington

The president of Mexico claims that his nation has evidence of illegal shipments of the powerful opioid fentanyl coming from China.

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According to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a shipment containing the drug was detained in the Pacific port of Lázaro Cárdenas, reported the BBC.

He said, "We already have proof," and said he will seek the Chinese government to assist in preventing the shipments.

According to US authorities, fentanyl is currently the primary cause of drug overdose deaths in the US.

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President López Obrador said in March that he had written to Chinese President Xi Jinping to ask for assistance in the war on drugs after being persWauaded to do so by US leaders.

On Friday, he announced to reporters that he will make the same request of Beijing: "In a very respectful manner, we are going to send this information to reiterate the request that they help us."

Rafael Ojeda, secretary of the Mexican navy, claimed that the packets covered in fuel resin and weighing 34–35kg (75 pounds) were found inside the container seized at Lázaro Cárdenas. These packages included evidence of methamphetamine and fentanyl. Prior to travelling to Mexico, the shipment left the Chinese city of Qingdao and travelled through Busan, South Korea.

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Fentanyl is up to 50 times more potent than heroin. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl and other opioids were to blame for 67 per cent of the 107,375 drug overdose or poisoning deaths that occurred in the US in 2021. More American deaths have been connected to fentanyl.

The US government accuses Mexican drug gangs of providing fentanyl to consumers all around the country. Only one of the three "El Chapo" drug lord's sons who were accused of trafficking fentanyl in the US last month is now in detention. The other two are members of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. In the US, their father Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmán is incarcerated and serving a life sentence.

Fentanyl, according to President López Obrador, is not made in Mexico; rather, the drug cartels get it from suppliers in Asia.

There is no such thing as unlawful fentanyl trafficking between China and Mexico, according to Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, who declared this last month.

"China has not been notified by Mexico on the seizure of scheduled fentanyl precursors from China," she told the BBC.

Mao Ning said the fentanyl abuse in the US was a problem "completely 'made in USA'".

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