"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat
It’s part of an effort targeting Mexican cartels selling counterfeit OxyContin, Xanax and other drugs that actually contain the deadly synthetic opioid, which the DEA chief called a national emergency.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration brought out a heavy hitter — an informant paid more than $1.9 million over the past two decades for his tips — to help agents seize more than seven kilograms of deadly fentanyl from a man in the south suburbs during a nationwide narcotics sting.
Hector Bayardo’s arrest Sept. 20 in a Walmart parking lot in Countryside came after the informant brokered a deal for Bayardo to sell the drugs, a DEA agent said in a court affidavit.
The deal was for “six Tecate beers” — which was code for six kilograms of heroin, the agent wrote.
When the DEA tested the drugs, they discovered they actually had fentanyl, a synthetic opioid at least 30 times more potent than heroin, according to the affidavit.
The court filing said Bayardo told agents he was being paid $2,000 to deliver the drugs, which were to be sold for $35,000 per kilogram.
Bayardo was one of 22 people arrested in stings in the DEA’s Chicago field division, which includes Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. They were part of nationwide DEA operation against Mexican drug cartels that sell heroin, fentanyl and counterfeit OxyContin and Xanax pills containing fentanyl. More than 800 people were arrested nationally in the operation.
Earlier this week, the DEA launched a campaign called “One pill can kill” to warn the public of a sharp rise in the sale of such fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills, most which authorities say are manufactured by drug cartels in Mexico using chemicals shipped from China.
Between Aug. 3 and Tuesday, the DEA carried out a series of investigations targeting fentanyl trafficking operations. The DEA’s Chicago field division seized 77,000 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana during that period, and about 4,000 of them were confiscated in the Chicago area, officials say.
More than 24 kilograms of fentanyl — including raw fentanyl and fentanyl in pill form — were seized in the three-state area, including 10.5 kilograms in the Chicago area.
About 1.8 million counterfeit pills were seized across the country along with more than 700 kilograms of fentanyl powder.
“Many of these investigations began as a result of overdose deaths,” DEA administrator Anne Milgram said at a news conference Thursday in Washington, calling the proliferation of fentanyl a “national emergency.”
Last year, more than 900 people in Chicago died of overdoses from synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to authorities, who say an amount of the drug as small as the tip of a pen can be fatal.
Robert Bell, special agent in charge of the DEA’s Chicago field division, said in a written statement the sting “holds cartels and local drug distributors accountable for the devastation they have inflicted.”
good news Sol, over 90,000 dead last year of overdoses in USA. When we talk of 50,000 dead in Mexico in Cartel News, we understand the war in Mexico, is about deaths in USA. Watch Lazo Cardenas, Mazanillo, etc. Don't tell me that China can't prevent this. I do believe these psychos encourage it. Fuck China syndicates, Mexican pill presses, those pushers, etc. Fentnayl, and those more powerful, is nothing but knock out drugs at the least and death at the worst. Must stop the Chinese precursors to partially solve the epidemic. If not, the overdoses, murders only get worse through time. With our dysfunctional government, it is up to us, the common man, to take action to stop this scourge for children and grandchildren. Their innocence is paramount to their future exposure to these evils and healthy behvaviors. It's up to us, expose and delete
ReplyDeleteMr. Guerrero
DeleteSol brings us the news from Mexico, from Spanish to English, without him, Hearst we would be in the dark. You seem to think Sol makes up the news.
Precursor chemicals yes do come from China into Mexico ports of of entry, by cargo ship, not to the US, so you see now the government has been for a long time, letting shipments come in.
I don't know where you got 90,000 drug users died in USA last year?
But that shows you, drugs keep coming to USA illegally. Yes the families should sue the Mexican government of Obrador, for freely letting drugs into the USA, as much as they want to sue the US gun manufacturer. So do you dig what I mean?
Viva Mexico
Viva Argentina
You are saying 90,000 died in US to overdose=equals self inflicted death.
DeleteThen you mentioned 50,000 died in Mexico but to what? Overdose or Homicides? A little vague on that side.
Yooooooo yoooooo respect to The MACHINE...
DeleteKeep the conversation alive. That's what allows for a chance and hope at REAL CHANGE ..
925 maricin
DeleteGood work đź‘Ť our tax dollars at work.
ReplyDeleteinstead of prison, give the dealers a mouthful of pills
ReplyDeleteThese stupid blue pills are causing a lot of misery at the homeless shelter I work in. We have to do chest compressions/narcan on them till the fire department shows up. In 2017 these pills clients were paying $20 - $30 each. Now they pay $10 or "$5 if you know someone". They say the really potent ones smell like popcorn when you smoke them. When there is a cluster of ODs, they all get excited to buy them cuz they know a stronger batch is in town. Lots and lots of ODs on these stupid pills. They call them "Blues" and "Street percs".
ReplyDeleteCome to Phoenix
DeleteIf you know the pills are fake, then no Narcan is needed.
ReplyDeleteTHe pills are fake because they are made in bathtub labs, not by pharmaceutical companies.
Delete