Fentanyl is transported into the United
States in parcel packages directly from
China or from China through Canada,
and is also smuggled across the SWB
from Mexico. Large volumes of fentanyl
are seized at the SWB, although these
seizures are typically low in purity, less than
ten percent on average. Conversely, the
smaller volumes seized after arriving in the
mail directly from China can have purities
over 90 percent.
Because of the differences in both seizure
size and average purity, it is currently not
possible to determine which source, Mexico
or China, is the greater direct threat as a
supplier of fentanyl to the United States.
While seizures likely originating in Mexico
represent the largest total gross weight of
fentanyl seized in the United States, the
overall low purity of this fentanyl means a
relatively small portion of a given fentanyl
seizure is actually fentanyl. Fentanyl
sourced from China arrives in significantly
smaller quantities than fentanyl sourced
from Mexico, but due to its exceptionally
high purity, it both poses a greater risk to
the purchaser/user and can be adulterated
many more times. DEA reporting also
indicates Mexican traffickers order fentanyl
from China, adulterate it, and smuggle it
into the United States themselves, meaning
an unknown amount of seized Mexican
parcels containing fentanyl are ultimately
of Chinese origin. In addition, Mexican
traffickers’ primary source of supply for
fentanyl precursor chemicals is als
