Mexican authorities seize fentanyl worth billions concealed in cactus shipment

Mexican authorities seized 70 pounds of fentanyl concealed in a truck carrying prickly pear cactus paddles in the state of Sonora, which borders Arizona, according to officials. Nearly 300,000 fentanyl pills were discovered.

The 29-year-old truck driver was detained following an inspection, during which authorities found 70.5 pounds (32 kg) of fentanyl hidden inside the vehicle, which was loaded with boxes of ‘nopales’. The discovery was made at a vehicle inspection post on a federal highway in the municipality of Huatabampo, the Mexican Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection announced on Wednesday.

During the inspection, agents found 30 black packages containing approximately 275,000 fentanyl pills and two white packages containing fentanyl powder, all hidden inside the cargo.

Mexican authorities estimate the drugs’ total worth to be over $6.4 billion.

According to a 2020 report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a single fentanyl pill is worth around $4 on average in American street markets, making the seized 275,000 pills worth approximately $1.1 billion if sold in the U.S. The fentanyl powder seized could potentially be used to manufacture hundreds of thousands more pills.

The fentanyl seizure comes amid heightened tensions between Mexico and the United States over drug trafficking and border security. On Tuesday, the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, citing the fentanyl crisis as a national security threat.

In addition, the U.S. Department of State announced the designation of eight organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), including six Mexican drug cartels. This designation enables the U.S. government to employ a broader range of tools to combat these organizations.

Data from the CDC and DEA indicate that approximately 114,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses in 2023, with nearly 70% of those deaths linked to opioids such as fentanyl. In 2024, a sharp decline was observed, with provisional CDC data reporting around 87,000 drug overdose deaths—the lowest recorded since 2020.