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Massive meth, fentanyl lab and other facilities raided by Mexican authorities

Published

3 years ago

October 26, 2020

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According to the Associated Press, Mexican authorities raided a meth and fentanyl lab last week capable of processing 11,000 pounds (5,000 kg) of raw material at a time, the country’s federal Attorney General’s Office announced on Sunday. The sheer size of the facility left authorities in shock.

“In the Attorney General’s Office, we have no record of any seizure of equipment of this size before,” said Felipe de Jesus Gallo of the federal Attorney General’s Office. He also said that the lab had two-story-tall chemical preparation vats.

Last week, the “mega-lab” was discovered on the outskirts of Mexico City, CBS News reported. A fake storefront advertising industrial cleaning products was used to conceal the warehouse in which the lab was located. The warehouse housed 265-gallon tanks containing precursor chemicals as well as stacks of drums. According to Gallo, these chemicals can be used for manufacture methamphetamines and synthetic opioid fentanyl.

In addition to this warehouse, other sites across the country were also raided as part of the operation that was code-named “Blue.” Some of these other sites were located in the states of Durango and Sonora in the north, other parts of Mexico City, as well as in the surrounding State of Mexico.

A raid at another property in Mexico City saw the arrest of an engineer and the seizure of a drum of what is thought to be a fentanyl precursor and instructions on how to go about processing it. The engineer supposedly constructed and operated labs for an organized crime group.

Furthermore, another raid at a lab in Sonora discovered 290 kilograms (639.34 pounds) of meth, some of which was intended for shipment to the United States, said Gallo. The batch was said to have “a high level of purity.”

Authorities suspect that the group running this drug operation is one based out of Sinaloa, evidence of which linked all these raids together.

The intelligence gathered by Mexican marines points to the source of the fentanyl precursors as China but imported through a Hong Kong company, per CBS News. A multi-container shipment of these precursors reportedly entered through a port in Baja California after being shipped out from a port in Japan, the marines said they had tracked.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

Featured

Hunter Biden Indicted on Federal Gun Charges Amidst Special Counsel Investigation

Published

1 week ago

September 14, 2023

Alexander Carter

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In a significant development, Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, was indicted on Thursday on federal gun charges as part of Special Counsel David Weiss’ ongoing investigation. The indictment alleges that Hunter Biden made false statements during the purchase of a firearm, among other charges.

The charges against Hunter Biden include:

• Making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm

• Making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer

•Possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance

According to the indictment, the alleged incident occurred on or about October 12, 2018, in the District of Delaware. Hunter Biden is accused of knowingly making a false and fictitious written statement during the acquisition of a Colt Cobra 38SPL Revolver. According to reports from Fox News, the statement, submitted on Form 4473, falsely certified that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, or controlled substance.

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Furthermore, the indictment further states that between October 12, 2018, and October 23, 2018, in the District of Delaware, Hunter Biden knowingly possessed the same firearm despite being an unlawful user of and addicted to controlled substances. This marks the first set of charges brought by Special Counsel David Weiss against Hunter Biden since being granted special counsel status.

The investigation came to public attention when it was reported by Fox News in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018 involving a gun owned by Hunter Biden.

Reports state that, Hallie Biden, the widow of President Biden’s late son, Beau, who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, discarded the gun. Hunter’s gun was thrown away in a dumpster near a market, located close to a school. It was subsequently revealed that Hunter Biden had purchased a gun earlier that same month.

Hunter Biden’s legal troubles do not end with the gun charges. Earlier in July, an original plea agreement collapsed, which would have seen him plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts for willful failure to pay federal income tax, thus avoiding jail time on a felony gun charge. Instead, he pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and one felony gun charge.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss as special counsel to oversee the Hunter Biden investigation and related matters. The White House has declined to comment on these developments, which continue to draw significant public and media attention.

Follow Alexander Carter on Twitter @AlexCarterDC for more!