“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
Social media accounts promoting the sale of fentanyl precursors are proliferating. US authorities have already identified at least two pharmaceutical companies that promote their products through dummy accounts. One of them is Biotechnology, which is sanctioned along with another company and five other people by the US Treasury for providing these precursors to produce fentanyl to the Sinaloa Cartel.
On Twitter and Instagram hundreds of fake accounts are also offering pharmaceuticals and chemicals from Chinese companies. These include Methylphenidate, which is a precursor for psychoactive drugs. Also yet another is Protonitazene which is a potent synthetic opioid and Etonitazene which is yet another. They also offer a derivative of piperidine which is one of the main precursors to manufacture fentanyl.
They are even selling Xylazine, which is a sedative used in livestock. Of which it has generated an alert in the United States because it represents a fatal combination with fentanyl by inhibiting or reducing the respiratory rhythm. It also makes ineffective the use of Naloxone to stop an overdose.