Mexican officials seized the largest fentanyl cargo in the country's history this week, and further investigations are suggesting that the shipload could belong to a man known as "El Chapo Isidro," a key member in the Beltrán Leyva Cartel structure in Sinaloa.
Security forces secured over a ton of fentanyl pills in Sinaloa distributed in stash houses and vehicles on December 2. 660 pounds of fentanyl were discovered in one of them, while the other held a truck carrying an additional 1,750 pounds. According to different reports, the operation netted approximately 2,410 pounds of the synthetic opioid with an estimated street value of $400 million.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid linked to 70,000 overdose deaths annually in the United States, has become a focal point in U.S.-Mexico relations. The drug, often disguised as counterfeit pills, is produced in clandestine Mexican labs supervised by major drug cartels such as the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación and the Sinaloa Cartel.
But according to federal sources close to Infobae Mexico, the Dec. 2 raids that led to a historic fentanyl bust could be linked to the Beltrán Leyva Cartel.
En dos acciones distintas encabezadas por @SEMAR_mx, elementos del Gabinete de Seguridad @SEDENAmx, @FGRMexico, @GN_MEXICO_ y @SSPCMexico en Sinaloa se logró el decomiso histórico más grande de fentanilo; Más de una tonelada de pastillas de fentanilo, dos hombres fueron… pic.twitter.com/QP6qJkjBIA
— Omar H Garcia Harfuch (@OHarfuch) December 4, 2024
Although the Beltrán Leyva Cartel had been an enemy of the Sinaloa Cartel for years, journalists in Mexico signal that there has been a sudden change of hearts and the group led by Jesús Alfredo Beltrán Guzmán, alias "El Tito" and/or "El Mochomito" is now siding with those loyal to Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's sons during their internal conflict against "La Mayiza."
The Beltrán Leyva Cartel counts within its ranks with important "fentanyl cooks" such as Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, also known as "Chapo Isidro." In recent years, Meza Flores has become into one of Mexico's most prominent fentanyl producers.
Who is "El Chapo Isidro?"
Regarded as one of the main leaders of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel along with Jesús Alfredo Beltrán Guzmán, alias "El Tito" and/or "El Mochomito", Meza Flores has been on the radar of the U.S.'s Department of the Treasury since 2013.
American authorities say "El Chapo Isidro" entered the drug-trafficking business in 2000 when he started distributing methamphetamines, heroin, marijuana and cocaine all across the state of Sinaloa.
Meza Flores is the alleged leader of the Meza Flores Transnational Criminal Organization, based in Sinaloa. The group is allegedly responsible for the possession, distribution, and importation of large quantities of opioids into the United States.
"El Chapo Isidro" was originally indicted in 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on drug trafficking charges. He remains at-large, but the FBI and the United States Department of State's Narcotics Rewards Program offers up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
According to Mike Vigil, former Chief of International Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), "El Chapo Isidro" operates in the Sinaloa municipalities of Guasave, Los Mochis and Mazatlán, as well as in Los Cabos, Baja California, and even counts with strong influences in Central and South America as well as in the U.S.
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