Guatemala City, -AGN- Following a judicial process that began on March 23, four containers containing 480 barrels of chemicals were reported positive for fentanyl at the Puerto Barrios rail terminal in Izabal.
On that day, a shipment of suspected synthetic drugs was seized in Puerto Barrios. It was part of the cargo of a Turkish-flagged vessel.
It is an addictive drug that could have caused the death of millions of people if the substance had reached its final destination.
The General Subdirectorate for Analysis of Anti-Narcotics Information -SGAIA-, with the Public Ministry -MP-, carried out the seizure.
At the time of entry, the declared product was alkyd resins; however, through analysis by anti-narcotics police specialized in chemicals, they were able to establish that it was fentanyl.
The MP and the General Subdirectorate for Analysis of Anti-Narcotics Information conducted field analyses of the synthetics using the First Defender AMX and TruNarc devices to determine whether the chemicals are mixed with drugs.
The seizure
The report indicates 120 barrels in each container, for a total of 480 barrels, coming from Türkiye and bound for Guatemala.
They have sent all samples to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences for a specific and final analysis.
Authorities reported that they launched investigations to determine the final destination of the vessel, which passed through France and Colombia before arriving in the country.
Seizure Destruction
The Guatemalan government maintains strategies to strengthen joint actions about the seizure, mobilization, and destruction of precursors and chemical substances.
The Ministry of the Interior ranks this seizure as a historic setback to drug trafficking.
The inter-institutional work from January 1 to March 6 has allowed the destruction of 54 metric tons of illicit substances.
The actions above occurred at the Precursors and Chemical Substances Complex located at the Estanzuela and Navajas farm in San José del Golfo, Guatemala.
These actions comply with the Cooperation Agreement between the Ministries of Interior, Health, and Defense, as well as with the Superintendence of Tax Administration -SAT-
This inter-agency coordination aims to strengthen mechanisms and control the management of illicit substances imported, exported, or produced in the country.
