The Trump administration is reportedly using a covert drone program to hunt down fentanyl laboratories in Mexico, the latest in the White House’s effort to combat the flow of illicit drugs into the United States, according to The New York Times.
These secret drone flights are used by CIA officials to identify fentanyl labs in Mexico, who then share their findings with the Mexican government, according to officials that spoke with the NYT anonymously in order to discuss a classified intelligence program. The covert CIA operation first began under the Biden administration, but has escalated in scope since the return of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to get tougher with drug crime syndicates.
Northern Command has conducted over two dozen surveillance flights over the U.S.-Mexico border using a slate of different aircraft, including RC-125 Rivet Joints, U-2s, P-8s and drones, a senior U.S. military official told the Times. The administration has not authorized the CIA to use the drones for lethal airstrikes, with the aircraft only being used to help Mexican authorities locate and dismantle drug operations within their territory.
The CIA drones have reportedly proven successful at locating the labs, with chemicals emitted into the air by fentanyl production being easy to spot from the sky. The agency declined to comment on the matter.
The uptick in drone flights coincide with Trump’s other efforts to combat Mexican drug cartels and put a dent into drug trafficking — and forcing the Mexican government to step up as well.
On his first day back in office, the president signed an executive order designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), a label that allows U.S. authorities more capabilities to better combat these international criminal syndicates. Â FTO designations trigger U.S. authorization to freeze financial assets, prohibit entry into the country and prosecute targeted members for supporting terrorism.
Northern Command announced earlier in February the creation of a special intelligence task force, made up of 140 analysts along the southern border, assigned to collect and analyze data by surveillance aircraft and other sources. The analysts will provide “full motion video analysis, counter network analysis, and Spanish language translation” to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Faced with Trump’s threat of sweeping 25% tariffs on all Mexican products exported into the U.S., President Claudia Sheinbaum on Feb. 3 agreed to deploy 10,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. The troops are tasked with stopping illegal immigration and the trafficking of illicit drugs, but have a goal of stopping fentanyl in particular.
The Mexican president’s willingness to meet Trump’s demands coincides with an illicit fentanyl epidemic that has rocked the American population, with over 21,000 pounds of the drug being seized at the southern border during the final year of the Biden administration, according to Customs and Border Protection data. One single kilogram of fentanyl can kill up to half a million people, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Mexican law enforcement authorities over the weekend seized 440 pounds of methamphetamine, a haul totaling nearly $40 million, in the heartland of the Sinaloa Cartel. Mexican officials have confiscated nearly 5 tons of meth, 453 kilos of cocaine and 55 kilos of fentanyl since the country’s national guard deployment began on Feb. 5.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to note that the CIA declined to comment on the program.
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