Patrol sounds fentanyl alarm

Enough fentanyl has been seized at US borders in just the past three months to kill more than a billion people, a top-ranking border official admitted Tuesday.

The revelation came as two Border Patrol chiefs were grilled at a congressional hearing.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) cited Customs and Border Patrol figures that at least 9,400 pounds of the ultra-dangerous synthetic drug has been stopped from entering the country since October, about 7,200 pounds of which were seized at the southern border. “That’s enough fentanyl to kill every American five times over,” Burchett said.

The US population was recorded at 332 million in 2021, according to the census.

His math was based on Drug Enforcement Administration information that as little as 2 milligrams of the synthetic opioid — an amount so small it easily fits on a pencil tip — is enough to kill a person.

Drug cartels have turned to smuggling fentanyl over other drugs because it is cheap to make and so concentrated, a small amount can make huge profits.

Tucson, Ariz., Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin told elected officials any shipment that makes it into the country has huge potential to be deadly.

“In the Tucson sector last year, we seized about 700 pounds of fentanyl,” he explained. “Based on the lethality of a dose of fentanyl, that’s enough to kill everyone in Arizona 21 times or basically half of the population of the United States.”

Smugglers have stashed fentanyl in coconuts, disguised it as Legos or stashed it on the cavities of cars or tires to bring it over the border.

“Of biggest concern is the liquid fentanyl — is the latest threat that we have seen,” Chief Gloria Chavez, head of the Rio Grand Valley sector, explained of what her agents are seeing.