(LEX 18) — A shelter-in-place order issued for Jalisco, Mexico, has been lifted. U.S. government staff in the area are now under a nighttime curfew after cartels protested the killing of drug lord "El Mencho."
But cartels reach far beyond Mexico. Jim Scott with the Drug Enforcement Administration has been cracking down on drug cartel trafficking for more than 25 years. The special agent in charge says their actions affect Kentucky Communities.
"Their tentacles reach far and wide, and there is no community in our area that's untouched by that," Scott said.
Scott says the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel are the two largest Mexican drug cartels moving drugs from Mexico into the United States.
The DEA says fentanyl is mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals sourced from China. The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics reports it is responsible for 69% of overdose deaths nationwide.
"Fentanyl has caused more havoc in this country than any other drug that we've ever seen," Scott said.
Scott described how the drug moves from Mexico into the U.S. and eventually reaches Kentucky.
"That drug route, if you want to sort of paint a picture, it's going to go to one of these cities along the border with McAllen, Texas, Laredo," Scott said. "From there, it's typically gonna go to more of a hub city, a Houston or Atlanta. It'll get stockpiled and, and from there, it's really shotgun out across the US using various couriers."
Scott revealed why Kentucky is particularly appealing to drug traffickers.
"Put yourself in the shoes of that, that drug dealer, and you don't necessarily wanna be in the big cities where the biggest law enforcement presence is established. You'd rather be out in the more rural areas where your activity is, is less seen. And we certainly see that throughout our region," Scott said.
His division kept nearly 89 million doses of fentanyl out of Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
"We celebrate victories along the way, and that's huge. This fight is certainly not over. And to think that Kentucky is immune from that would be naive," Scott said.
