Fentanyl production in Mexico | Chemistry students recruited by cartels

(Culiacán, Mexico) Disguised as a university janitor, the recruiter found his target: a second-year chemistry student.

The cartel is looking for people for a project, the man told the student. His name had been mentioned, in a good way: “You are good in your field, it’s up to you to decide.” »

The new Eldorado of Mexican drug traffickers has a name: fentanyl. To exploit this vein, they are prospecting in Mexican universities in search of chemistry students.

Cartel labs are recruiting staff with in-depth chemistry knowledge to make fentanyl stronger and “get more people hooked,” people told New York Times of the cooks (cooks), those who produce the drug.

The cartels also want to make their operations more sophisticated: they want to synthesize themselves the raw material for fentanyl – chemical compounds called “precursors” – currently imported from China.

If they succeed, worried U.S. officials say, the fentanyl crisis would enter a new phase: Mexican cartels would have greater control than ever over one of the deadliest drugs ever invented.

“We would become the kings of Mexico,” says a chemistry student who has been preparing fentanyl for six months.

The Times questioned seven cooks of fentanyl, three chemistry students, two high-ranking traffickers and a recruiter. All work for the Sinaloa Cartel, which, according to the US government, largely controls the flow of fentanyl to the US southern border.

Students in the pay of the cartels say they have various functions. They carry out experiments to strengthen the drug or create precursors. They collaborate with the cooks or supervise assistants who produce fentanyl in bulk.

The exact extent of student recruitment is unknown, but the search for qualified chemists appears to be linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Made in Mexico

According to a Mexican intelligence report made public by hackers, the Sinaloa cartel began recruiting chemistry teachers in 2020 when the pandemic slowed the global supply chain.

American authorities confirm the arrest of numerous young chemists in Mexico in fentanyl laboratories in recent years. When questioned, these chemists said they were responsible for developing precursors and more potent fentanyl.

According to a chemistry professor at a university in the state of Sinaloa, some students enroll in his classes with the sole aim of learning how to make synthetic drugs. He recognizes these students by their questions and reactions during his classes, said the professor, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.

To preserve Mexico’s cooperation on migration, the Biden administration has avoided outright demanding more action against the cartels. President-elect Donald Trump has promised a tougher approach, threatening to use the U.S. military against cartels and promising to impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods if the country does not stop drugs and migrants.

Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, responded by calling for “international collaboration” to prevent precursors from “Asian countries” from being sent to Mexico.

But increased control of the production chain by cartels will make it more difficult for both countries to combat the industrial production of synthetic opioids in Mexico.

Produce faster and easier

The cartels “know that we are targeting the international trafficking of these precursor chemicals,” says Todd Robinson, an assistant secretary at the State Department and head of international drug enforcement collaboration. This strategy encourages the cartels to bring all production back to Mexico, he says: “As a result, they can send these drugs to the United States more easily and quickly. »

Mass production of fentanyl is simple enough if cartels only need to mix imported precursors, experts say. The recipes are well known.

But synthesizing these chemical compounds is much more difficult and requires a broader range of techniques and skills, says James DeFrancesco, a professor of forensic sciences at Loyola University Chicago who served for 18 years as a forensic chemist at the Drug Enforcement Administration. (DEA) of the United States.

Furthermore, it is dangerous. Even with gas masks and protective suits, those who produce these precursors can be contaminated with a deadly drug, and there are sometimes explosions. Without forgetting the risk of errors that could anger armed and extremely violent bosses.

But this job pays better than a legal job in chemistry, a very convincing argument. According to the second-year student cited above, he collected $800 straight away and then $800 per month, double the average salary offered in Mexico’s chemical sector.

The 19-year-old, from one of the poorest regions of Sinaloa, says he enrolled in chemistry because his father has cancer and he wants to contribute to medical research.

“I want to help people, not kill them,” he said. The idea of ​​manufacturing a drug that causes mass casualties tormented him, but the treatment his father needed was beyond his family’s ability to afford.

So he told the recruiter he was interested. Five days later, men came for him, blindfolded him and took him to a clandestine laboratory hidden in the mountains.

This article was published in the New York Times.

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