. while he says finished, fentanyl is no longer flowing out of china. precursor chemicals. the ingredients to make fentanyl are if you can get to the precursor chemicals, you re going to have less fentanyl. you have less fentanyl . you have less over those deaths using that same approach in recent years, the us levied new sanctions against a handful of chinese chemical manufacturers to combat the global illicit drug trade. we looked into one of them trading company accused of being involved in fentanyl precursor chemical sales, public records show the company was dissolved in 2021, but our investigation found the same email address once listed for hope by a tune now linked to this chinese company. shanxi ni pu, registered just days after kobe tune began to shut down and look at hobie itunes facebook page still active. it links to shanxi. ooh! not to mention the whatsapp contacts advertised for both companies the same, so i
conducted a bust at a home in southern california, which housed one of the biggest drug labs they ve ever seen. agencies more than £4000 of meth, counterfeit xanax and so called bath salts. they were in dozens of barrels, boxes and bags loaded with pills and raw ingredients. so far. no word on arrests all the u. s centers for disease control and prevention says more than a million people have died of overdoses in two decades. many deaths are blamed on illicit versions of the opioid fentanyl. but recently the food and drug administration approved an over the counter version of the antidote, narcan. cnn s david cover looks at how fentanyl gets from china through mexico and into the streets of the u. s. the u. s s largest port of entry where we re going today, also its busiest. each
this is ground zero for illicit fentanyl smuggling. we will probably double what we saw last year within the next month or two. that s double the amount of fentanyl seized in all of 2022 just the first four months of this year, but before the fentanyl even reaches the u. s border, you need to know where it s coming from. and for that we start not over there in mexico. but in china specifically should dajuan china , a city some 200 miles south of beijing, known for manufacturing , pharmaceutical drugs and once a major hub for fentanyl production in may 2019 facing mounting us pressure, china took a major step and banned the production and sale of all known forms of fentanyl, including any variants of the drug. that was a big step that stopped fentanyl. fitting all the powder coming in from china directing the united states. matt donahue worked for the d e, a for more than three decades, retiring last year as its chief of foreign operations
make one small chemical change, and it s no longer a band precursor to legal substitute one that s readily available to purchase by essentially anyone with internet access. officials tell us the majority of precursors ship directly to mexico. cartels cook up fentanyl in secret labs. we wanted to see for ourselves traveling into the state of sinaloa cartel country as some see it. we got exclusive access with the mexican army as they hunt for drug labs. garden they took us to their latest fentanyl lab bust this unassuming home white building right there. that s the fentanyl lab. the army says they seized 270,000 pills here all containing fentanyl. soldiers keep watch 24 7, preserving the scenes for prosecutors and preventing cartel members from restarting production here,
with fentanyl, but the fight to stop fentanyl from actually reaching the u. s. has proven to be a tough challenge for both the u. s and mexican governments. tonight s news. david culvert traces the origins the deadly drug and why it spread so quickly. the u. s s largest port of entry where we re going today, also its busiest each day more than 100,000 people into the us through the san ysidro crossing about 800 customs and border protection officers tasked with keeping the bad from seeping through this part of the border , very difficult and complex job for them, too. in a matter of moments and sometimes seconds identify whether it s someone presents a threat coming into the station or not among the deadliest threats, illicit fentanyl want to feel the door to make sure doesn t feel heavy, and there s nothing in their ppe tells us that more than half of all the fentanyl found over us borders comes from ports here in san diego, officials say this is ground zero for illicit fentanyl