Mexican cops find 700lbs of fentanyl worth $8million stashed inside dozens of coconuts bound for US

Officials in Mexico have seized a nearly 700lb for fentanyl hidden inside coconuts bound for the US.

The enormous drug haul, discovered by officials in the state of Sonora, northwest Mexico, could be valued up to $8million (£6.5).

Fentanyl, a type of opioid, is used in anaesthesia, but it is also used as an illegal recreational drug. It has become a serious problem for the US, with fentanyl flooding across the US border.

Officials from the Prosecutor-General’s Office seized the drug-stuffed coconuts from a truck on a road in Puerto Libertad and cracked them open to reveal the illicit substance.

Hundreds of fentanyl-filled coconuts were seized from a truck destined for the US border 

One image shows how the coconuts had been sawn in half and stuck back together after being filled with bags of fentanyl tablets.

The officials also arrested two people inside the lorry destined for the US. They planned to cross the border from Sonora.

In a statement yesterday, December 1, the Prosecutor-General of the Republic said: ‘Officials from the Prosecutor-General’s Office (FGR) attached to the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) seized approximately 300 kilograms (661lb) of a substance with characteristics of fentanyl in a truck transporting coconuts in Sonora.

‘Under the leadership of the Federal Public Ministry’s (MPF) office in Sonora, the Federal Investigative Police (PFM) moved to highway section 26 in Puerto Libertad, where they completed the procedure and managed to arrest two people who were transporting the aforementioned substance.

‘The seized haul and the detainees were made available to the MPF, which is carrying out the corresponding investigation.’

The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) seized approximately 300 kilograms of fentanyl pills hidden inside coconuts in a truck, in Sonora, Mexico

A bag of fentanyl pills is pictured inside one of the coconuts destined for the US

Fentanyl is a strong opioid painkiller used to treat severe pain and is typically available only on prescription.

It is used together with other drugs for anaesthesia, but it is also used illicitly as a recreational drug.

The use of opioids like fentanyl has plagued the US for decades. There were a record 69,000 deaths from powerful painkillers like fentanyl in 2020 alone — a figure which rose to a new high of more than 75,000 in 2021.

The opioid crisis, which has been surging for decades, reached its apex during the pandemic when lockdowns and hospital closures left people particularly vulnerable to addiction.

Fentanyl can be 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.