All articles tagged with #drug labs
Mexico's president ordered an investigation into the role of two US embassy personnel who died in a car crash while returning from a counter-narcotics operation to destroy clandestine drug labs in Chihuahua; Mexico says no federal clearance for joint operations and is examining the circumstances and legal implications, while the US embassy described the officials as embassy personnel and instructors providing training.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum demanded explanations about what U.S. and Mexican officials were doing in Chihuahua after a car crash that killed four people — two Mexican investigators and two U.S. embassy instructors — following a clandestine drug-lab raid. She stressed that there are no land or air joint operations with foreign entities without federal authorization and raised sovereignty concerns as U.S.-Mexico security debates continue. While officials initially offered sparse details and later some backtracking, the incident underscores ongoing questions about the extent of U.S. involvement and collaboration in Mexican security efforts.
Mexico's army has revised upward the number of drug lab raids it says it conducted under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, according to government data and leaked military documents reviewed by Reuters. The hiked up figures are not credible, say two former senior law enforcement figures in Mexico and the United States, as well as two serving Mexican security sources. The absence of fentanyl lab raids is highly improbable as Mexican crime syndicates had long ago pivoted to mass producing the drug on home soil, according to the two security sources, a trend that accelerated after China classified fentanyl as a controlled substance in 2019.