Mexico says it will give China proof of fentanyl smuggling
- Beijing had denied such trafficking was taking place, after President Lopez Obrador wrote to Chinese leader Xi Jinping asking for helping curbing the drug flows
- ‘We already have the evidence’, Lopez Obrador said, adding that Mexico would like China to seize such contraband at its ports if possible
Mexico will provide China with evidence of illegal fentanyl shipments from the Asian nation to Mexican drug cartels, its president said on Friday, after Beijing denied there was any such smuggling.
A container that recently arrived in Mexico from China was found to contain the synthetic opioid blamed for hundreds of overdose deaths every day in the United States, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.
“We already have the evidence,” said Lopez Obrador, who in March wrote to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, asking for help curbing fentanyl flows.
China’s foreign ministry said in response that there was no illegal fentanyl trafficking between the two countries.
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Speaking at his daily news conference, Lopez Obrador said that Mexico would ask “very respectfully” for China to inform it when the contraband leaves its ports, and if possible seize it.