Mexican Man Arrested with Nearly $400K of Fentanyl

A Mexican national was busted attempting to smuggle highly lethal narcotics into the United States.

Tucson Sector Custom and Border Protection officers made a large seizure on Wednesday when they discovered 23 pounds of fentanyl.

The 28-year-old Mexican man’s Chevrolet SUV was flagged for secondary inspection while traveling through the Dennis DeConcini crossing. A narcotics K-9 alerted officers to the drugs hidden in the vehicle’s dashboard. The 23 pounds of fentanyl recovered was estimated to be worth approximately $378,000.

Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more than heroin.

Some estimates suggest that as little as .25 milligrams of fentanyl can kill a human, although most estimates consider a lethal dose to be in the range of 2 milligrams to 3 milligrams.

The latest statistics from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) indicate that fentanyl is the largest drug threat in the United States, killing 44 people per day.

Ryan Saavedra is a contributor for Breitbart Texas and can be found on Twitter at @RealSaavedra.