U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have seized more than two pounds of fentanyl that washed ashore in Daytona Beach, Florida, officials announced on Thursday. The discovery was made after an unsuspecting beachgoer stumbled upon the drugs and contacted local authorities.
A photo shared by Andrew Scharnweber, of CBP’s Miami sector, shows a large plastic-wrapped brick of the deadly white powder. Scharnweber warned the public not to attempt to handle or disturb any suspicious packages found along the shoreline, instead urging them to contact local authorities immediately.
The origin of the fentanyl remains unclear, but the seizure comes on the heels of a massive drug trafficking investigation that spanned multiple counties in Florida. That investigation resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of fentanyl, including thousands of pressed pills stamped to resemble prescription opioids.
The synthetic opioid has been linked to a significant increase in overdose deaths among children ages 12 to 17, with fatalities more than doubling since the start of the pandemic, according to a recent analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.
In 2023, fatal overdoses exceeded 112,000 deaths for the first time in U.S. history, according to NPR. The crisis has been exacerbated by the production and export of fentanyl precursor chemicals and other synthetic narcotics, which have been subsidized by China, according to a recent report by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Author Peter Schweizer has claimed that China’s involvement in the fentanyl trade is linked to a Chinese gang called UBG, which has ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. Schweizer has also alleged that the gang’s leader, Chang An-lo, has financial ties to the Biden family, including a $5 million interest-free loan to Hunter Biden.
