In April 2023, the United States Department of Justice released an indictment, filed in the Southern District Court of New York, against 23 members of the Sinaloa Cartel allegedly linked to the production and trafficking of fentanyl.
As part of the conduct and acts of violence attributed to the Los Chapitos cell, authorities revealed a series of violent experiments with fentanyl perpetrated by Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, alias ‘The Nini‘ —currently detained in the US— and Jorge Humberto Figueroa Benítez, alias ‘The 27th′ —who remains a fugitive—.
The court documents indicate that, although Los Chapitos would have the ability to calculate the purity of their drugs, ‘El Nini’ and ‘El 27’ would have chosen to carry out trials with human beings. Apparently, these guys would have supplied fentanyl to people who were tied up and deprived of their freedom just to see its effects.
The accusation consulted by Infobae Mexico states that, on some date in 2022, ‘Nini’ and ‘El 27’ were given the order to execute a woman, but instead of carrying out the murder immediately, they decided to experiment with the lethal opioid.
“Instead of shooting him, he was injected with multiple doses of fentanyl with lower potency until, finally, he overdosed and died,” can be read in the file.
A recent research published in The New York Times reveals that the experiments with fentanyl are a constant practice within the Sinaloa Cartel and are applied equally to people and animals.
A man identified as Pedro López told journalists Natalie Kitroeff and Paulina Villegas that members of the cartel frequently went to a homeless camp to offer 30 dollars – around 600 Mexican pesos – to anyone who would allow themselves to be injected with a dose of fentanyl.
Due to restrictions placed on suppliers from China, the cartel has begun creating new combinations with the intention of increasing the potency of the opioid, in accordance with the report of the NOW.
Among the substances with which they mix fentanyl are anesthetics used for dental proceduresas well as sedatives for animals. The and dismissala veterinary drug that is generally applied to horses, is one of the tranquilizers that the ‘cooks’ add to the mixture “if the flock is very weak.”
Xylazine is a non-opioid sedative until 50 times more powerful than morphine. Because it functions as a central nervous system depressant, treating an overdose when this substance is present is more complicated.
The combination of fentanyl with xylazine is known colloquially as ‘tranq dope’, although it has also been called ‘zombie drug’.
“You inject this into a chicken and if it takes between a minute and a minute and a half to die, that means the dose was pretty good. If it doesn’t die or it takes a long time, we add xylazine,” an alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel told the journalists of the New York Times.
“If a rabbit survives more than 90 seconds, the drug is considered too weak to be sold to consumers,” said alleged ‘cooks’ and security sources cited by the reporters.
