Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents executed the largest-ever seizure of methamphetamine precursor chemicals in Texas this week. The chemicals were en route from China to the Sinaloa Cartel, where they could have been used to produce $569 million worth of illegal drugs.
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“China was sending over 700,000 lbs on the high seas to the Sinaloa Cartel before my office seized them. Because President Trump and Secretary Rubio declared the Sinaloa Cartel a Foreign Terrorist Organization, we can now strike faster and hit harder,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
“These many barrels of precursor chemicals are directly linked to one of the most dangerous and deadly terrorist networks, the Sinaloa Cartel. It’s one of the most violent and brutal terrorist organizations in the world. They are responsible for countless deaths, devastation, and destruction of communities in the U.S. and abroad,” said Customs and Border Protection, Houston, Director of Field Operations Jud Murdock.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the seizure on Wednesday after HSI agents executed a warrant at the Port of Houston, Texas. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia had the authority to grant a warrant for the Texas operation due to the Sinaloa Cartel’s recently applied status as a foreign terrorist organization.
HSI agents found over 300,000 kilograms of meth precursor intended for shipment to the Sinaloa Cartel’s secret labs in Mexico. The chemicals were reportedly produced in and shipped from China.
The seizure included six shipping containers full of 164,880 kilograms of benzyl alcohol and six shipping containers full of 151,560 kilograms of N-methylformamide. That quantity of precursor chemicals could have produced approximately 190,000 kilograms of meth.
HSI needed 24 18-wheel trucks to transport all the chemicals to a storage facility.
The DOJ compared that to the total of 78,925 kilograms of methamphetamine seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the southwestern border.
The DOJ announced the seizure just one day after President Donald Trump took lethal military action against a drug-trafficking ship from Venezuela that was carrying cocaine and drug traffickers from the Tren de Aragua (TdA) narcoterrorist gang. President Trump confirmed that no U.S. personnel were harmed in the missile strike and that it successfully destroyed the ship and killed 11 TdA members.
