Several federal agencies have joined together to direct efforts against the leaders of drug trafficking cartels and concentrate resources on Arizona’s southern border in the fight to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced in a press release.
The strategy, Operation Spike Plazais part of a multi-agency effort to disrupt the smuggling of illicit synthetic drugs into the United States and stop the illegal export of weapons from the United States to cartels in Mexico.
The operation will focus on high-ranking cartel officials and their associates.
A plaza is a territory controlled by a Mexican cartel, often directly south of a border crossing with the United States. According to CBP, drug trafficking through Mexican plazas has accelerated the use of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, among others.
This is the next phase of CBP’s Strategy to Combat Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Drugsan international and government-wide effort to anticipate, identify, mitigate and reduce producers, suppliers and traffickers of illicit synthetic drugs.
“Operation Plaza Spike is a critical step in our ongoing campaign… to directly attack transnational criminal organizations that traffic in narcotics, death and destruction for profit,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security. “We spare no effort to dismantle the cartels and ensure that everyone, from the bosses to the plaza bosses, are brought to justice.”
The Federal Law Enforcement Operation will focus on the plazas, or areas, that control fentanyl smuggling into the United States and in the leaders of the squares, starting with Plaza Nogaleslocated directly south of the border crossing in Nogales, Arizona and allegedly led by Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, who CBP says is a leader of the Sinaloa cartel, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2018 for his role as head of Sinaloa Cartel Plaza.
“We are going after the plaza bosses, whose organizations are responsible for virtually everything that is smuggled into the United States,” said Troy Miller, senior CBP official who performs the duties of commissioner.
“By taking enforcement action against them, we can directly impact their operations and their ability to traffic fentanyl into the United States, which reaches communities across the country,” Miller added.
Fentanyl is the nation’s leading cause of death among people ages 18 to 45, accounting for approximately 70% of the more than 107,000 overdose deaths recorded over the past year.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that There are two types of fentanyl.
One is pharmaceutical fentanyl made by pharmaceutical companies and prescribed by doctors to treat people with severe pain, especially after operations or while treating advanced-stage cancer.
The other is illegally manufactured fentanylwhich causes the majority of fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths and can be made before entering the United States or from ingredients brought into the country.
Illegally produced fentanyl can be in liquid or powder form and is commonly used to supplement other illicit drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, due to its extreme potency.
In addition to CBP’s efforts to target operations that move fentanyl north as well as weapons south, CBP will leverage the partnerships, authorities and resources of other government agencies.
In 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized a record 79.5 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. Across Arizona, the DEA Field Division in Phoenix seized more than 42 million fentanyl pills last year.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our nation has ever faced. “The men and women of the DEA are tirelessly focused on saving lives by defeating the two cartels responsible for the majority of our communities’ fentanyl and methamphetamine poisoning: the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels,” she said.DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Annual fentanyl deaths nearly doubled between 2019 and 2021.
It is one of the most dangerous illegal drugs in the US because a lethal dose of fentanyl is as small as just 2 milligrams, the size of a few grains of sand.
“If you are manufacturing or transporting fentanyl across our borders… we know who you are and we are mobilizing the full force of the federal government to stop you and bring justice,” Troy Miller said.