EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Police in Juarez on Monday reported their biggest fentanyl bust to date: 77,960 blue-tinted pills inside a car parked in the middle-class Rincones de Santa Fe neighborhood.
A man identified only as Armando E.N., 46, allegedly was in possession of the pills, the 2016 Volkswagen Jetta and 2.5 pounds of heroin wrapped in plastic, the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office said. Due to the quantity of drugs he’s accused of possessing, state officers turned over the suspect to Mexican federal authorities.


The pills were stamped with the letter M and the number 30, the AG’s Office said. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s website, that’s the hallmark of Mexican drug cartels’ fake oxycodone pills, also known as Mexican Blues, Blues and M-Boxes.
Ever-larger fentanyl busts are becoming common on both sides of the border, as the cartels churn out the potentially lethal drug in industrial amounts.
On Sept. 12 in Albuquerque, U.S. federal and local police executed 16 search warrants and seized a combined 1 million fentanyl pills.
Federal officials linked those busts to ongoing investigations of the Sindicato de Nuevo Mexico prison gang and partners like Sureños and West Side Locos. Those gangs are allegedly involved in conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, drug trafficking and other illicit activity, according to federal affidavits.