美国缉毒署(Drug Enforcement Administration)周五宣布，将在一年时间内打击墨西哥贩毒集团在美国的活动。
根据该部门的一份声明，从2022年5月1日到2023年5月1日，禁毒署逮捕了3337人，缴获了近4400万粒芬太尼药丸，6500多磅芬太尼粉末，91000多磅甲基苯丙胺，8497件枪支，以及超过1亿美元。声明补充说，芬太尼粉末和药丸的缉获量相当于从美国各地的社区中清除了近1.93亿致命剂量的芬太尼，这防止了“无数潜在的药物中毒死亡”。
被称为“最后一英里行动”的缉毒署针对锡那罗亚和哈利斯科卡特尔的同伙，据缉毒署署长安妮·米尔格拉姆说，他们对美国的芬太尼问题贡献很大。
米尔格拉姆在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时说:“我们正在瞄准这些犯罪网络的每一个部分。”。
在华盛顿司法部的新闻发布会上，美国药品管理局局长安妮·米尔格拉姆(左)作为纽约南区联邦检察官达米安·威廉姆斯(右)发言...显示更多undefined
苏珊·沃尔什/美联社
“Sinaola遍布全球45个国家，所以这些都是全球性的业务，”她说。
官员们说，墨西哥贩毒集团将这种致命的药物添加到从街头出售的Adderall到可卡因的所有东西中，这种药物在过去一年中已导致美国超过10万人死亡。米尔格拉姆补充说，在芬太尼不致命的情况下，它会变得非常容易上瘾。
“[这种药物]制造起来很便宜。它的成瘾性是海洛因的50倍，”米尔格拉姆说。“如此多的美国人死于芬太尼，而他们从来不知道自己服用了它。”
作为周五声明的一部分，米尔格拉姆说，美国药品管理局的目标是用于制造芬太尼的前体化学品，这些化学品来自中国。米尔格拉姆说，2019年，中国停止向美国运送芬太尼，转而运送这些化学品。
“这向我们表明，如果中国想阻止这一点，他们可以，”她说。“他们可以，如果他们想阻止这些化学公司出口的话。他们可以。”
“这是这次谈话的一个重要部分，因为与可卡因或海洛因等植物性药物不同，与芬太尼或甲基苯丙胺等人造药物不同，卡特尔可以制造多少芬太尼的唯一限制是他们可以获得多少化学品，”她继续说道。
她说美国药品管理局没有得到中国的合作。
“我们已经请求中国政府协助阻止这些前兆。我们已经有好几个月没有在毒品问题上进行合作了，但是我们绝对认为中国可以做得更多，并且需要做得更多来阻止它，”她继续说道。
司法部上个月带电的锡那罗亚卡特尔的查皮托斯网络的20多名成员详细叙述了查皮托斯网络据称为保护其芬太尼贩运业务而犯下的令人震惊的暴力行为。
赛拉嗪，也称为“镇静剂”是一种强效镇静剂，美国美国食品药品监督管理局已批准将其与芬太尼混合用于兽医用途，美国药品管理局局长表示，芬太尼是美国最致命的药物。米尔格拉姆说，该机构没收的药丸中有7%含有这种物质，分布在48个州。
“这是对我们社区的重大威胁。”
自2020年以来，药物过量连接的美国每年超过100，000例死亡，其中约三分之二与芬太尼有关。
Yearlong DEA operation cracks down on cartel associates distributing drugs in the US
The Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday announced a crackdown on Mexican drug cartel operations in the United States over the span of one year.
From May 1, 2022, to May 1, 2023, the DEA arrested 3,337 people and seized nearly 44 million fentanyl pills, more than 6,500 pounds of fentanyl powder, more than 91,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 8,497 firearms, and more than $100 million, according to a statement from the department. The fentanyl powder and pill seizures equate to nearly 193 million deadly doses of fentanyl removed from communities across the United States, which have prevented "countless potential drug poisoning deaths," the statement added.
Dubbed "Operation Last Mile," the DEA targeted associates of the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels who, according to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, contribute heavily to the fentanyl problem in America.
"We're targeting every part of these criminal networks," Milgram said in an interview with ABC News.
"Sinaola is in 45 countries around the world, so these are global operations," she said.
Mexican drug cartels add the deadly drug, which has killed over 100,000 in the United States over the past year, to everything from Adderall sold on the street to cocaine, officials said. In cases where fentanyl isn't deadly, it becomes highly addictive, Milgram added.
"[The drug is] cheap to make. It is 50 times more addictive than heroin," Milgram said. "So many Americans are dying of fentanyl and they never knew that they were taking it."
As part of Friday's announcement, Milgram said the DEA is targeting the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, which originate in China. Milgram said that in 2019, China stopped shipping fentanyl to the United States, and instead shipped the chemicals.
"It shows us that if China wanted to stop this, they could," she said. "They could, if they wanted to stop these chemical companies from exporting. They could."
"And it's a vital part of this conversation because unlike plant based drugs, like cocaine or heroin, with synthetic man made drugs like fentanyl, or methamphetamine, the only limit on how how much fentanyl the cartel can make is how many chemicals they can get their hands on," she continued.
She said the DEA hasn't gotten cooperation from China.
"We've asked the Chinese government for assistance with stopping the precursors. We've not had cooperation on narcotics in many months at this point in time, but absolutely we think China can do more and needs to do more to stop it," she continued.
The Justice Department last monthchargedmore than two dozen members of the Sinaloa Cartel's Chapitos network and detailed shocking acts of violence allegedly perpetrated by the Chapitos network to protect their fentanyl trafficking operations.
Xylazine, also known as"tranq", is a powerful sedative that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for veterinary use that is being mixed with fentanyl -- a combination the DEA Administrator says is the deadliest drug in America. Milgram said it is in 7% of the pills the agency is seizing and is in 48 states.
"It's a significant threat to our community."
Since 2020, drug overdoses have beenlinkedto more than 100,000 deaths annually in the U.S., about two-thirds of which are fentanyl-related.
