Mexican authorities have struck a major blow to the drug trade in their country. Police and army forces, working in unison, have closed down three drug factories in the northern state of Sinaloa. All three were producing the synthetic drug, methamphetamine.
Combined it was estimated that more than 17 million doses of the drug could be manufactured by the drug laboratories. The dismantling of these facilities is a major setback for Mexican drug traffickers.
Methamphetamine Use in the UK
Crystal Meth infamously came to fame in the UK in the TV series Breaking Bad. Use of the drug here is not as widespread as in the USA or other countries. Part of the reason for this is because the geography of the UK is not large enough for domestic manufacturing of the drug.
The drug is normally smoked, snorted or injected and is a powerful form of Amphetamine.
Methamphetamine Use in the USA
The United States is the biggest consumer of drugs in the world. In the case of Methamphetamine, most of the production of the drug takes place in Mexico. Once produced, it is then smuggled into America.
In Sinaloa state alone, over 20 drug labs have been closed down this year. Often these factories are detected by drones that use heat detectors to find the illicit production sites.
This part of Mexico was famous in the past as it was the home of the “El Chapo” cartel. This drug gang was infamous for smuggling massive amounts of drugs into the USA via distribution cells in the country. the group was founded by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. (He was known as “El Chapo”, shorty, as he was only 5ft 6in tall!) He is estimated to have sent more product into the States than any other drug trafficker in history.
Despite the arrest of the leader in 2016, the group still exists, smuggling drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, fentanyl and heroin into the USA.