Suspect arrested in Sonora Transporting 32 kilos of Fentanyl hidden in a shipment of nopales (edible cactus)

Mexico City, Mexico, March 05, 2025

Joint press release

• The Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR), the ministries of Security and Citizen Protection, Defense, and the Navy, and the National Guard (GN) participated in the operation.
• Approximately 275,000 fentanyl pills were seized. The cost of the drug is 131.3 million pesos (US$6.30 million).

As part of the National Security Strategy and as a result of coordinated work in the state of Sonora, personnel from the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR), the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), the Ministry of National Defense (Defense), together with the Ministry of the Navy (Semar) and the National Guard (GN), arrested a suspect who was transporting 32 kilos of fentanyl hidden inside a trailer loaded with boxes of nopales (edible cactus).

At a vehicle inspection post located on the Navojoa-Los Mochis stretch of federal highway 1460, at kilometer 93+100, in the municipality of Huatabampo, Sonora, security agents located a white tractor-trailer with a dry cargo container carrying boxes of nopales.

The agents, upon carrying out a thorough inspection of the unit, found 30 black packages containing approximately 275,000 pills and two white packages containing fentanyl powder, with a total weight of about 32 kilos, which were hidden in the boxes.

It should be noted that the cost of the drug seized is 131.3 million pesos (US$6.30 million).

As a result, a 29-year-old suspect was arrested, informed of his constitutional rights and, together with the seized drugs, was handed over to the corresponding Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will determine his legal status.

With these actions, the institutions of the Security Cabinet reaffirm their commitment to work in a coordinated manner to ensure peace and prevent drugs from reaching young people.