Federal agents have carried out the largest seizure of methamphetamine precursors in U.S. history, intercepting nearly 700,000 pounds of chemicals headed from China to Mexico. Authorities said the shipments were bound for clandestine labs operated by the Sinaloa Cartel.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, working overseas, interdicted the shipments on the high seas before they could reach cartel hands. The chemicals—164,880 kilos of benzyl alcohol and 151,560 kilos of N-methyl formamide—could have produced roughly 420,000 pounds of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $569 million.
“We intercepted them on the high seas and now the Sinaloa Cartel will not be able to use them to make methamphetamine,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro said. She credited the Trump administration’s decision to designate the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization for allowing agents to move quickly. “Every day, tons of chemicals that are used to create synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl are shipped from China to Mexico in China’s undeclared war against America and her citizens,” she added.
The seizure was the first carried out under a terrorism forfeiture warrant, authorized after Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally labeled Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations in February. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons noted that this was the first time chemicals had been seized under charges of providing material support for terrorism.
HSI’s Operation Hydra, which focuses on cutting off precursor supply chains rather than finished narcotics, coordinated the mission with law enforcement partners in Guatemala, Panama, and Mexico. The chemicals were redirected to the Port of Houston, unloaded into 1,300 barrels, and secured by HSI storage facilities.
Officials said the action prevents countless overdoses and deaths. “Whenever there is an effort on the part of foreign terrorist organizations to create drugs that are killing Americans, we will seize them,” Pirro declared.
