SAN DIEGO – (INT) - Updated statistics attest to the growing issue of fentanyl trafficking along the California-Mexico border.

Over the past 4-years, seizures of the potent illegal drug soared to 27-thousand pounds last year. That compares to just 48-hundred pounds in 2020.

The California Department of Justice (DOJ) reports that 61 percent of all fentanyl seized along the Southwest border was rounded up at California Ports of Entry. When combined with Arizona’s ports of entry, 87 percent was seized along the US-Mexico border.

The result has been a more than 2-thousand percent increase in fentanyl overdose deaths over the past 5 years---just in the San Diego area.

Interrupting networks of drug dealers had had some results. The DOJ says 280 people have been arrested and nearly 12-million fentanyl pills seize

Story Date: April 13, 2024