Largest Liquid Fentanyl Drug Bust in US Reported in South Texas: Report

A police car in a file photo. Mira Oberman/AFP/Getty Images

Authorities have seized the largest amount of liquid fentanyl in the United States to-date in Nueces County, Texas.

According to KIII-TV, the record drug bust was a result of a traffic stop on Interstate 77 on Nov. 30.

“During the search we located a compartment built in the gas tank of this vehicle, and inside the gas tank was a modified tank which had roughly 25 pounds or 3 gallons of liquid fentanyl,” Mike Tamez with the Nueces County District Attorney’s Criminal Interdiction Unit told the station.

The amount is the largest ever seized in the United States to-date. The street value of the drug is unclear.

The seizure was also the first time authorities uncovered liquid fentanyl in Nueces County.

Tamez told KIII-TV that a constable deputy found a bolt in the floorboard of the vehicle that fed into a modified tank in the vehicle’s gas tank. Tests for fentanyl came back positive.

It’s unclear what prompted the constable deputy to stop the vehicle in the first place.

“Extremely proud of our Nueces County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Interdiction Unit for this incredible bust!!” Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez said in a statement posted on social media. “National record setting work! More than that…3 gallons of fentanyl consists of almost 4 MILLION LETHAL DOSES of the drug.”

“Some law enforcement agencies talk about the problem, but our Criminal Interdiction Unit is getting the drugs off the street! Great work!” he added.

50 Times More Potent than Heroin

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid, up to 50 times more potent than heroin and up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Manufacturers of illegal drugs add fentanyl to heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, and other drugs to make the drugs more powerful and cheaper to produce.

Just two milligrams of fentanyl, which is about 10–15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose. Laboratory testing is the only way to know how much fentanyl is concentrated in a pill, powder, or volume of liquid.

Some of the approximately 1 million fake pills containing fentanyl were seized when agents served a search warrant at a home in Inglewood, Calif., on July 5, 2022. Drug Enforcement Administration via AP

China is “the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States,” the DEA said in its 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment report (pdf).

Two criminal drug networks, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), supply most of the fentanyl in the United States.

Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat in the United States. More than 100,000 died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in March, and synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, were involved in more than two-thirds of those deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For Help

Treatment helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Information www.SAMHSA.gov

www.dea.gov/onepill

www.dea.gov/resources/facts-about-fentanyl